YELLOW WAGTAIL. 567 



probably taken their departure from some part of the west of 

 England. 



The geographical range of this bird is less limited than 

 was at one time thought. It has occurred in Heligoland. 

 It is said to breed in great numbers near Dieppe where Mota- 

 cllla flava is only seen on passage, and also, but less plenti- 

 fully, near Lille, where M. flava is common. In the south 

 of France it only appears, say MM. Jaubert and Barthel- 

 my-Lapommeraye, in autumn. It also occurs in Spain and 

 Portugal. It winters in Africa where its wanderings are ex- 

 tensive, since Mr. Gurney has lately received it from the 

 Transvaal territory, and it has been often sent from the 

 Gambia and other localities on the west coast. As to its 

 eastern limits nothing positive can at present be asserted, but 

 Drs. Finsch and Hartlaub say they have seen it from Astra- 

 kan, and refer specimens from still more distant places, as 

 Tibet and even Formosa, to this form. 



I am indebted to Mr. Henry Doubleday, for the finest 

 specimen of this bird I ever saw, an adult male in brilliant 

 summer-plumage. The bill is black : the irides hazel : the 

 top of the head*, the lores, ear-coverts, nape, scapulars and 

 back, very pale olive, rather darkest on the back ; over the 

 eye and ear-coverts on each side a streak of brilliant gam- 

 boge-yellow ; wing-coverts and quills dusky brown, the former 

 tipped, the tertials edged and tipped, with yellowish-white ; 

 upper tail-coverts olive ; the two outer pairs of tail-feathers 

 white, with a streak of black on the inner web, all the others 

 brownish-black ; the chin, throat, breast and all the lower 

 surface of the body, a bright, rich gamboge-yellow : legs, 

 toes and claws, black. 



The whole length of the bird is six inches and a half. 

 From the carpal joint to the end of the wing, three inches 

 and one-eighth : the first three primaries very nearly equal, 

 but the first rather the longest. 



The plumage of the female at the same time of year is 



* Occasionally a cock bird in breeding-plumage will be found with the head as 

 yellow as the lower parts of the body, but in such examples the yellow is 

 generally paler than in those which have the top of the head olive-coloured. 



