346 Mr. H. Seebohm on the Ornithology of Siberia. 



collection, obtained through Schliiter of Halle, dated 14th 

 April, 1876, from the Gulf of Abrek, in the Sea of Japan, 

 labelled Motacilla ocularis $ . The head, neck, and back 

 are black, gradually fading into grey on the rump, which 

 becomes black again on the upper tail-coverts. The throat, 

 breast, and a line through the eye are also black. Forehead 

 and cheeks, and a line behind the eye and on the side of the 

 neck, white. Shoulders grey. Wing-coverts white. Inner 

 secondaries broadly edged with white on the outside web. 

 Primaries and secondaries broadly edged with white near the 

 base of the inner web. 



This bird is undoubtedly the Motacilla alba, var. lugens, of 

 Schrenck, who describes it as common in the Amoor, and 

 considers it an intermediate form between M. japonica and 

 M. ocularis. There seems to be no alternative but either to 

 describe it as a new species, or to regard it as a hybrid be- 

 tween the two species just named. I have preferred the 

 former course as the least evil of the two. From M. ocularis 

 it may at once be distinguished by its black back, and from 

 M . japonica by its grey secondaries. 



In Dresser's collection is a skin of this bird from Japan, a 

 male, collected by Whitely, 17th April, 1865; and I have a 

 skin collected by Wossnessensky on the 23rd of April, 1 845, 

 upon ( ' Oorogan Island," possibly either one of the Kurile 

 or one of the Aleutian Isles. 



MOTACILLA ALBOIDES, Hodgs. 



Motacilla alboides, Hodgson, As. Res. xix. p. 191 (1836). 



Motacilla leucopsis, Gould, P. Z. S. 1837, p. 78. 



Motacilla luzoniensls, auctt. nee Scop. 



Motacilla alba, vay.paradoxa, Schrenck, Reis. u. Forsch. im 

 Amur-Lande, i. p. 341 (1860). 



Motacilla felix, Swinhoe, P. Z. S. 1870, p. 121. 



There are five species of white Wagtails found in India. 

 Two of these are resident species, M. maderaspatana, hereafter 

 alluded to, and M. hodgsoni, which may be described as a 

 black-backed M. per sonata. Of the remaining three we have 

 already disposed of the breeding -places of two, M. per sonata 



