64 BIRDS OF GUERNSFA'. 



Havre. The White Wagtail so much resembles the 

 Pied Wagtail, that it may have been easily over- 

 looked, and may be more common than is generally 

 known. 



The fully adult birds may easily be distinguished, 

 especially when in full breeding plumage, as the 

 back of the Pied Wagtail is black, while that of the 

 White Wagtail is grey. After the autumnal moult, 

 however, the distinction is not quite so easy, as the 

 feathers of the Pied Wagtail are then margined 

 with grey, which rather conceals the colour be- 

 neath ; but if the feathers are lifted up they will 

 be found to be black under the grey margins. The 

 young birds of the year, in their first feathers, 

 cannot be distinguished, and the same may be said 

 of the eggs. 



The White Wagtail is included in Professor 

 Ansted's list, but marked as only occurring in 

 Guernsey. There is no specimen either of the Pied 

 or White Wagtail in the Museum. 



53. GREY WAGTAIL. Motacilla melanope, Pallas. 

 French, " Bergeronette jaune." The Grey Wagtail 

 is by no means common in the Islands, though it 

 may occasionally remain to breed, as I have seen it 

 both in Guernsey and Sark between the 21st of 

 June and the end of July in 1866, but I have not 

 seen it in any of the Islands during the autumn. It 

 is, however, no doubt an occasional, though never 



