50 BRITISH BIRDS. 



restricted ; tail slightly shorter. In autumn, male becomes 

 dusky grey on back, female rather paler, while in both 

 sexes throat is greyish-white. 



Common throughout British Isles, majority arriving in 

 March and leaving at end of November, when I have seen 

 parties of 30 or 40 assembled in Essex ; a percentage 

 remain through winter in the southern counties. Nest : 

 built in April in banks, rough walls, quarries, roots of 

 fallen trees, etc. ; composed of small roots, grass, and 

 moss, lined with hair, wool, or feathers. Eggs : 4 to 6 ; 

 greyish or bluish-white, speckled all over with light 

 brownish-grey ; size '80 by '60. Flight-note is a shrill 

 chiz-ick, chiz-ick, but in spring male utters a simple but 

 pleasing song. I have often seen it take flies on the wing, 

 but it is chiefly a ground-feeder. 



61. Motaeilla melanope, Pallas. GREY WAGTAIL. 



Hab. Western and Southern Europe, north to Scotland, 

 Germany, and Central Russia ; also temperate Asia, 

 eastward to Japan. 



Male : upper parts slate-grey with a white line above the 

 eye and a broad white stripe below, bordering the black 

 chin and throat ; wing-quills brownish-black ; secondaries 

 edged with dull white ; upper tail-coverts yellowish, con- 

 spicuous in flight ; outer tail feather on each side white, 

 and also the greater part of the two next ; remainder dark 

 brown ; under parts pale yellow ; bill dark " brown ; tarsi 

 light brown. Length about 7*30. Eemale : duller ; tail 

 shorter. Both sexes lose black throat in winter, and have 

 a brownish tinge on the yellowish under parts. 



Breeds sparingly in S.W. counties of England, through- 

 out Whales, the north of England, and the whole of 

 Scotland ; also all over Ireland, although nowhere very 

 numerous. Has bred occasionally in Sussex and Kent, 



