WHITE WAGTAIL. 



199 



MOTACILLA ALBA. 

 WHITE WAGTAIL. 



(PLATE 14.) 



Ficedula motacilla, Briss. Orn. iii. p. 461 (1760). 



Ficedula motacilla cinerea, Brias. Orn. iii. p. 465 (1760). 



Motacilla alba, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 331 (1766, partim) ; et auctorum plurimortun 



Gmelin, Scopoli, Latham, Bonaparte, Naumann, Degland 8f Gerbe, Savi, 



Salvadori, Neicton, Dresser, &c. 



Motacilla cinerea (Briss.), Gmel. Syst. Nat. i. p. 961 (1788). 

 Motacilla albeola, Pall. Zoogr. Rosso-Asiat. i. p. 506 (1826). 

 Motacilla dukhunensis, Sykes, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1832, p. 91. 

 Motacilla brissoni, Macgill. Man. Brit. B. i. p. 160 (1840). 

 Motacilla baicalensis, Swinhoe, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1871, p. 363. 



The White Wagtail was first noticed in England in May 1841 by 

 Mr. Bond, who found it breeding at Kingsbury reservoir. Since that date 

 many other specimens have been obtained, chiefly in spring, leading to the 

 conclusion that a few come every year to this country to breed. Amongst 

 other localities where it has been found breeding may be mentioned North 

 Devon, the Isle of Wight, Sussex, Kent, and Huntingdonshire. It is of 

 far less frequent occurrence in Ireland, but may have been overlooked. In 

 Scotland the only specimen which has come under Mr. Gray's notice was 

 shot in the winter of 1847 at Dunbar, in East Lothian, whilst Saxby states 

 that he saw a pair at Lerwick in 1854. A specimen of this bird has been 

 sent from Greenland ; and it is common in summer in Iceland and the 

 Faroes. 



The White Wagtail breeds throughout Europe as far north as land 

 extends. In the northern portions of its range it is a migratory bird, and 

 winters in South Europe, where some remain to breed on the mountains. 

 It also winters in North Africa, in the west as far south as Senegal, and in 

 the east as far south as Zanzibar ; but a few are said to remain to breed in 

 Egypt. It occasionally visits the Canaries in winter. It breeds in Siberia, 

 as far east as the valley of the Yenesay and as far north as land extends. 

 In Palestine, Asia Minor, and Persia it is principally known as a winter 

 visitor, but many remain to breed in the highlands. Its breeding-range 

 also extends throughout South-west Siberia; but in Turkestan it is 

 chiefly known as passing through on migration, except in the south-west, 

 where a few remain to winter. A somewhat nearly allied species, M. 

 personata, having the grey back of the White Wagtail, but the white 

 on the head joined to the white on the throat as in the Pied Wagtail, ranges 



