MOTACILLlD^l. 



mon summer- visitant, though some few may remain to winter 

 in the countries bordering on the Mediterranean. It has heen 

 obtained in the Faeroes, but, as before stated, it does not go 

 very far to the northward in Scandinavia, and in Europe no 

 definite line can be drawn, even if such a boundary exists, 

 to the eastward of which its place is taken by M. cinerei- 

 capilla. It may be said to extend over the whole of Africa, 

 having been obtained both in Damaraland and in the 

 Transvaal territory, while it is common in Morocco and 

 Algeria, and, as has already been mentioned, it is found in 

 Egypt. In whatever part of the world it occurs it generally 

 frequents the vicinity of water or at least of moist places, 

 its habits being precisely those of our own Yellow Wagtail, 

 though when the two are seen together observers say that 

 the Blue-headed birds are distinguishable by their more 

 slender form. 



This bird makes its nest on the ground in holes, some- 

 times among exposed roots of trees, in corn-fields and mea- 

 dows, laying about six eggs, which measure from '8 to '66 by 

 from -57 to '48 in., and are of a french- white, closely mottled 

 or suffused with pale brown or olive the former sometimes 

 inclining to light red, the latter often verging upon green ; 

 and dark hair-lines are also not unfrequently present. The 

 food of this bird consists of small green caterpillars, moths, 

 aquatic insects, and especially flies and gnats. 



The adult male, in the breeding-season, has the bill black ; 

 the irides dusky brown : the top of the head, the lores, ear- 

 coverts and nape, bluish-grey ; over the eye and ear-coverts 

 on each side a distinct white streak of variable length, with a 

 shorter white line immediately below the eye ; the scapulars, 

 back and upper tail-coverts, greenish-olive, tinged with 

 yellow ; wing-coverts and quills dark brown the former, 

 as well as the tertials, edged with yellowish-white ; the two 

 outer pairs of tail-feathers, white, with a black border on 

 the inner web for more than three-fourths of their length, 

 that of the second feather being broader than that of the 

 first ; the third pair black, with a narrow outer edge of 

 white ; the three middle pairs nearly uniform black ; the chin 



