244 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXVIII. 
Magrath too found it on the Saweikieh marsh in short grass in mid-July while- 
Logan Home records three or four seen and one shot (unfortunately the skin. 
was lost) at Abu Aran, 40 miles from Busra, on June 26th. So itis quite within 
the bounds of possibility that it even breeds in the plains. Zarudny says it 
breeds in the Zagros and winters on the Karun; we have no winter records. 
During their passage they affect any damp ground, particularly crops such as 
wheat, grass, rice, etc., and associate with other Wagtails. Curiously enough 
there are no specimens or records in autumn but the latter may be included under 
Slava. 
Nine specimensexamined: ¢ 9 Amara, 24-3-18 ; ¢ ,.Kurna, 17-3-18; ¢.Hawi- 
zieh, 12-7-18 (P. A. B.) ; ¢ Sheik Saad, 27-3-17, 20-3-17, 925-3-17 (P. Z. G 
and R. E.C.); @Feluja, 21-3-27 (C. R. P.). 
Wings 82-85. Tail 70-76 m.m. 
The white chin and moustachal streak in melanogriseus are rather inconstant 
characters and some feldegg shew them; melanogriseus usually has a shorter 
wing and tail; thus within the range of both forms one may meet with single 
birds which are indeterminable and one or two of the above could not be picked 
out from a series of melanogriseus, possibly both races do occur, but a larger 
series are required to determine this. 
I think it is perhaps better to treat the Black-headed Wagtails as a separate 
Species and not as a race of the Blue-headed. 
54. Blue-headed Wagtail. Motacilla flava. 
(1) Motacilla flava dombrowskii (Tschusi) (Orn. Jahrb, xiv, 161, 1903— 
Roumania). 
(2) Motacilla flava thunbergi, Billb. (Synop. Faun. Scand., 1, 2, Aves, 
1828, p. 50—Lappland (borealis auct). 
(3) Motacilla flava campestris, Pall. (Russ. Reichs, iii, p. 696, 1776—E. 
Russia). 
(4) Motacilla flava flava, L. (Syst. Nat. Ed., x, p. 185, 1758—S. Sweden). 
(5) Motacilla flava leucocephala ?, Przew. (Zap. Imp. Akad. Nauk. St. 
Petersb. ,Lv., p. 85, 1887—-Dzungaria (Altai). 
The records are not always separable into the different races unless born out 
by specimens. The commonest form would seem to be dombrowskii and all 
races are passage migrants. 
(1) This race appears on passage about the same time as feldegg and mixes 
freely with it. Cheesman found it common at Sheik Saad in the last week of 
March and obtained specimens. Pitman got four at Feluja during a big rush of 
mixed Yellow Wagtails on April 15th to 18th. Yellow Wagtails of sorts were 
passing along the line of the Jebel Hamrin range at Fatah Gorge on April 18th. 
On the return passage Yellow Wagtails were noted in the first week of August 
and became commoner in the second and third weeks. 
Many pass in September ; Cheesman noted the gardens at Sheik Saad full of 
them on the 14th, and. on 16th at Shaiba, flocks were travelling north low over 
the desert against the wind, these had probably made a turn in their migration 
to gain the river and avoid the desert. 
Pitman saw flocks passing near Baghdad going S. E. on September 9th and 
again at Adhaim on 24th. Buxton noted many passing through Kut during 
the first week in September and many at Amara during the third week and 
up to October 3rd ; after this there are odd records up to the 10th. Other forms 
are doubtless included in the above autumn notes. 
About 15 skins of this race examined: ¢, Baghdad, 18-9-17, 19-9-17; d, 
Amara, 14-9-18, 9-9-18. (P. A. B.) ;¢, Sheik Saad, 27-3-17; (two) 31-3-17, (two) 
(P. Z. C. and R. E. C.); ¢ Q, Feluja, 17-4-17, 3 16-4-17, and several other 
females on same date as males. 
