BLUE-HEADED WAGTAIL. 561 



Wagtail leaves this country. At a meeting of the Wernerian 

 Society of Edinburgh, January 9th, 1836, Sir Patrick Walker 

 read a notice of the occurrence of an example on the banks 

 of the Water of Leith (Mag. Zool. Bot. i. p. Ill) ; and 

 about the same time another example is said to have been 

 met with near Edinburgh (loc. cit.). Mr. Albany Hancock 

 records the fact (torn. cit. p. 491) that on May 1st, 1836, 

 a male specimen was shot a little to the westward of New- 

 castle-on-Tyne, which was at the time accompanied by a 

 second, most likely its mate ; and on the following day Hoy 

 killed an adult male at Stoke-Nayland in Suffolk (torn. cit. p. 

 200). The fine male now, by the kindness of Mr. Joseph 

 Clark, figured was taken in April, 1837, near Finsbury. 



In all not far from forty examples have been on good 

 authority recorded as observed in this country since Mr.. 

 Gould's discovery, and most of them were obtained, while 

 doubtless many others are unrecorded. They have generally 

 occurred on or near the coast of the south-western, southern 

 or eastern counties, Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, Sussex, Kent, 

 Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk, mostly in the months of April, 

 'May or June, and several times in pairs. At Lowestoft, in 

 April, 1854, according to Mr. Gurney (Zool. p. 4440), four 

 males and two females were killed in three days out of a 

 flock of the Yellow Wagtail, but on hardly any other occa- 

 sion has more than a pair been observed together in this 

 country. Mr. J. Watson states (Zool. s.s. pp. 2343, 2406) 

 that two or three pairs were noticed from year to year near 

 Gateshead, where two nests were found in 1869 and a third 

 nest in 1870, when two young birds, one of which was deter- 

 mined by Mr. John Hancock, were shot. The Blue-headed 

 Wagtail has also been again obtained in Scotland, for Mr. 

 Gray mentions that an example, killed near Dunbar in 1868, 

 is now in the possession of Mr. F. M. Balfour, and Saxby 

 has several times seen it late in autumn in Shetland. It was 

 not known to Thompson as a bird of Ireland, but the Editor 

 is informed of its occurrence in that country by Mr. Blake 

 Knox, who thinks it is much overlooked in the south. 



On the western half of the continent this bird is a corn- 

 VOL. i. 4 c 



