652 The Sparrow-like Birds 



and lined with wool, feathers, or hair, being placed in a hole in a bank or rock, 

 or in an old wall or stone heap; the four or five eggs are bluish white spotted 

 with grayish brown. In summer the plumage of this species is variegated with 

 black and white, the back, shoulders, chin, throat, and neck being black, while 

 in winter the back and scapulars are grayish ash, and the chin and throat white, 

 the latter with gorget of black; the length is about seven and a half inches. 

 Closely allied is the Japanese Pied Wagtail (M. lugens) of eastern Siberia, 

 Kamchatka, and Japan, the White-faced Wagtail (M. kucopsis] of eastern 

 Siberia, the Himalayas, and China, and the White Wagtail (M. alba) of Europe 

 generally, north to Ireland and occasionally Greenland, which may be known 

 by the gray upper parts and white forehead, sides of head, neck, and abdomen. 



European Yellow Wagtail. As an example of the group in which there is 

 more or less of yellow in the plumage we may select the common Yellow Wag- 

 tail (M. rayii) of western Europe, in which the upper parts are olive-green, 

 while a stripe over the eye and the under parts are a rich sulphur-yellow; it is 

 smaller than many of the others, being only about six inches long. It is a com- 

 mon bird in Great Britain, where, as Seebohm says, "its active, sylph-like move- 

 ments and its delicate form and lovely plumage make it a general favorite." 

 It does not come about houses, but is found in open downs, pastures, and grass- 

 land, as well as in fields where crops are being sown, or where it may follow the 

 plow; it also frequents places where cattle are being pastured to feed upon the 

 insects startled from the grass by the animals. The nest, placed on the ground, 

 is usually well concealed amidst grass and herbage, and the four to six eggs are 

 white, mottled with pale brown and olive. Another well-known species belong- 

 ing to this group is the Yellow-bellied Wagtail (M. flamventris) of Madagascar, 

 which has the entire abdomen yellow, this being separated by a broad black 

 crescent from the white breast. 



The Forest Wagtail (Limonidromus or Dendronanthus indicus), the only rep- 

 resentative of its genus, has the two middle tail-feathers much Shorter than the 

 others, and the whole upper plumage suffused with olive-green; it summers in 

 eastern Siberia and North China, and winters in India, Ceylon, and the large 

 islands to the south. It is found running about on the ground in well-wooded 

 districts and when disturbed perches on the lower branches, but otherwise its 

 habits do not differ from those of the other Wagtails. 



Pipits. -The Pipits are distinguished at once from the Wagtails by their 

 relatively much shorter tails and streaked upper plumage, the prevailing colors 

 being brownish or tawny. The sexes are alike in coloration, but the seasonal 

 differences, so pronounced in the Wagtails, are very slight in the Pipits, though 

 during the breeding season the plumage often becomes worn and faded. The 

 typical Pipits (Anthus), of which there are a large number, are practically cos- 

 mopolitan, being absent only from the Papuan Islands and Polynesia, and are 

 the only members of the family normally occurring in the New World. Of the 

 three native species, the best-known is the American Pipit, or Titlark (A. pensil- 

 vanicus), which is found extensively dispersed over the whole of North America, 

 breeding in the higher Rocky Mountains and in sub-Arctic districts, and spending 



