160 MOTACILLIN^E, MOTACILLA. 



with feathers. The eggs, five or six, are greyish- white, spot- 

 ted with grey and brown, their length nine- twelfths, their 

 breadth seven-twelfths and a quarter. 



It has been proposed, by the Prince of Canino and Mr Gould, 

 to name this, our most common Wagtail, Motacilla Yarrelli, 

 because it differs in colour from a Wagtail common in the 

 temperate parts of the Continent, and which, it is said, must 

 have been that which Linnseus named Motacilla alba. But as 

 our bird occurs in Sweden, where Linnaeus lived, as his defi- 

 nition agrees precisely with it, and as he refers to our Wil- 

 loughby and Ray, who must have described it, I think we 

 might as well leave its old name of Motacilla alba with it, were 

 it not that the bird not being actually white, it is somewhat 

 incorrect. In a genus like this, where there are so many spe- 

 cies that are in part white, or grey, or yellow, all names in- 

 dicative of such colours might very well be discarded. I am 

 not at all convinced, however, that our present bird and the 

 Grey-backed Wagtail of the Continent are specifically dis- 

 tinct ; for in every particular, except colour, they agree most 

 accurately. 



White Wagtail. Black-and- White Wagtail. Water Wag- 

 tail. Winter Wagtail. Dish-washer. 



Motacilla alba, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. 331. Motacilla Yar- 

 relli, Bonap. Temm. Man. d'Ornith. iv. 620. Motacilla Yar- 

 relli, Pied Wagtail, MacGillivray, Brit. Birds, ii. 225. 



The species or variety with which this has been confound- 

 ed, not having with absolute certainty been found in Britain, 

 although I think I have several times met with it, perhaps 

 ought not to be included in this manual ; but its description 

 is given in case some of my readers should meet with it. 



94. MOTACILLA BRISSONI. GREY-AND-WHITE WAGTAIL. 



Male in winter with the forehead, sides of the head, throat, 

 and lower parts, white ; a black crescent on the fore neck ; 

 the head, nape, and upper tail- coverts black ; the back and 

 sides ash-grey ; wing-coverts blackish, the lower margined and 

 tipped with white ; quills greyish-black, edged with white ; 

 tail black, the two lateral feathers white, excepting part of 

 their inner webs. Female similar, but with the black less 

 extended on the nape, the wing-coverts and crescent on th3 

 fore neck dusky grey. Male, in summer, with the whole fore 

 neck black, the upper parts of a darker grey. Female simi- 

 lar, but with the fore neck greyish-black. Young light grey 

 above, greyish-white beneath, with a grey crescent on the fore 

 neck, 



