1GG 



WHITE WAGTAIL. 



GEEY A^D WHITE WAGTAIL. 



Motacilla alba, LINNAEUS. GMELIN. 



" Brissoni, MACGILLIVRAY. 



Motacilla A Wagtail. Alba White. 



As stated in the previous article, these two supposed species 

 of Wagtail have only lately been considered as such; having 

 been previously, and, as is thought, erroneously, combined 

 under one. I will not pass a decided opinion upon the 

 subject the imagined differences will appear in the specific 

 description; but I must observe that some degree of uncer- 

 tainty even still prevails. Thus Mr. Macgillivray, usually so 

 scrupulously accurate, in treating of the present bird, quotes 

 Mr. G-ould as saying that it, the Linnsean one, has never yet 

 been discovered in any part of England, yet Mr. Macgillivray 

 is himself describing it as a sufficiently plentiful species at 

 the time; and then, nevertheless, after so saying, he gives 

 his own description from continental specimens. So again, 

 Mr. Yarrell says that 'although' believing the birds to be 

 distinct, he gives figures and descriptions of 'both;' and then 

 follows, with the figure of the Pied Wagtail, one of the 

 Continental White Wagtail, which, he says, he has very little 

 doubt 'will be' occasionally found in this country. All this 

 seems like 'confusion worse confounded;' and I cannot with 

 truth profess to be able to see my way very clearly. In 

 the last edition, however, he gives it. The Prince of Musignano 

 considers that two distinct species exist. 



This bird is found over the whole of the continent of 



