172 GHET WAGTAIL. 





greyish or yellowish white, mottled with light brown and grey. 

 They vary in depth of colouring, some being nearly cream 

 white, and others nearly pale yellowish brown: they are of a 

 short oval shape. 



Male; weight, about five drachms; length, seven inches and 

 three quarters to eight and a quarter; nearly half of it the 

 tail; bill, rather long, dusky brown, light brown on the edges, 

 and the inner half of the lower one: a dark grey streak 

 passes from it through the eye. Iris, dark brown; over it is 

 a light buff-coloured streak, and another below; forehead, sides 

 of the head, crown, neck on the back, and nape, grey, slightly 

 tinged with greenish yellow; chin and throat, black, edged with 

 white, and buff white in winter, until the beginning of April, 

 when it becomes grey. Breast, bright yellow, especially on 

 the lower part; greyish white with a tinge of yellow in winter, 

 and a slight shade of rufous on the upper part; back, grey, 

 yellow towards the tail. 



The wings, which reach only to within three inches of the 

 end of the tail, and extend to the width of ten inches and a 

 quarter, or a little more, have the first and third feathers equal 

 in length, the second a little longer, and the longest in the 

 wing; greater and lesser wing coverts, dusky black, bordered, 

 the latter more widely than the former, with buff white; pri- 

 maries, dusky black, bordered with dusky grey; secondaries and 

 tertiaries, dusky black, the last very long, and the two latter 

 bordered with buff white on the outer webs, and white at the 

 base. The tail, which is rather bent downwards, and edged 

 with yellow at the base, has the outside feathers white, the : 

 second and third white, with a narrow black line on their 

 outer webs towards the base, the others brownish black, edged 

 with greenish yellow, except the middle ones, which are tinged 

 with grey; upper tail coverts, yellow; under tail coverts, 

 bright yellow; legs and toes, small, delicate, and yellowish 

 brown; claws, the same, but deeper tinted. 



The female is somewhat less in size; length, seven inches 

 and three quarters; the line over the eye is tinged with yellow; 

 throat, tinged with yellow; the black patch changes to dark 

 grey, mottled with yellowish grey in summer; the wings are 

 ten inches in width. 



In the young the bill is dusky; over the eye is a yellow 

 streak; on the front of the neck a crescent of grey feathers; 

 throat, brownish white; the breast, grey on the sides, is at 

 first much tinged with red on the upper part, but becomes 



