THE WAGTAILS. 107 



Wagtails are, as a group, most difficult to identify ; it 

 is easy to tell the pied ones from the yellow ones, it is 

 true, but there are several kinds in each section, and, with 

 their changes of plumage according to age and season, 

 they are not the birds for the beginner to attempt to 

 identify. 



Fortunately, however, the two best known kinds are 

 easily distinguished from all the rest, and these are the 

 only ones which need be treated at length here. 



THE LARGE PIED WAGTAIL (Motacilla madraspatensis), is 

 called Mamula or Khanjan in Hindustani ; it is the largest 

 of the Wagtails, and is the only one which is resident 

 in the plains. Apart from its size it is about nine inches 

 long its markings are very characteristic. The male is 

 altogether black and white ; the general plumage being 

 black, with the eyebrows, belly, sides of the tail, and most 

 of the wing white. The hen is smaller and has the back 

 grey instead of black, but otherwise is just like the cock. 



Young birds are drab where the old ones are black, 

 and the white parts of the plumage are not so pure. This 

 species differs from other Pied Wagtails in showing so 

 little white about the head. The Large Pied Wagtail is 

 confined to India and Ceylon, and is rare in Eastern 

 Bengal, though I have once seen it in Calcutta. It does 

 net go far up the Himalayas, but ascends the South Indian 

 hills up to eight thousand feet. 



It builds a small pad of a nest in any convenient hole 

 in a bank or building and lays four brown-spotted eggs. 

 Unlike most Wagtails, it is a good songster, and is 

 sometimes caged on this account, but can very rarely be 



