VOL. vnj NOTES, 197 



The Little Bunting has been once noted on the north 

 side of the Tees-mouth, but the Whitby specimen is the 

 first recorded example for Yorkshire, and, therefore, an 

 addition to the county list. T, H. Nelson. 



BLUE-HEADED WAGTAILS IN SOUTH DEVON. 

 On May 26th, 1913, while sitting on a footbridge which 

 spans a stream some three miles from Seaton, my attention 

 was attracted by a pair of Wagtails which came and settled 

 on a little island of stones within a few yards of my companion 

 and myself. I had never seen a specimen of the Blue-headed 

 Wagtail [Motacilla f. flava) in the flesh but felt sure that 

 that was what these birds must be, a belief confirmed by 

 the careful examination I was able to make of their plumage 

 on this and subsequent occasions. 



The male had the crown and back of the head of a 

 greyish-blue colour ; the back brown with a suggestion of 

 green which, however, was lost in the tail-coverts ; the tail 

 black with the exception of the (I think) two outer pairs ; 

 the under-parts yellow, rather less bright than in M. /. raii, 

 fading into white on the throat ; wing -feathers brown, edged 

 with yellow ; a white streak ran above the eye and a fainter 

 one below ; the legs and feet were black. 



In the female the whole of the upper-parts were of a 

 greenish-brown, as also were the cheeks with the exception 

 of a pale yellow " smudge " ; the underparts shghtly paler 

 than those of her mate and, I beheve, only the one outer 

 pair of tail-feathers white — otherwise similar to the male. 



I spent a long time trying to make absolutely sure 

 about the tail-feathers, and in my own mind am certain 

 about them, but venture to suggest that it is practically 

 impossible to be perfectly sure without handhng the bird. 



On May28th-30th I watched them again for a long time. 

 Most of their time was spent in fly- catching, but on five 

 occasions I saw one of them fly off with a small feather. 

 On each of these occasions they foUowed the course of the 

 stream beneath thick overhanging bushes for some thirty 

 yards, then swung into an adjacent field where I invariably 

 managed to lose sight of them. This field was very wet, 

 almost marshy in fact, and covered with numberless isolated 

 tufts of rank grass. After May 30th I never saw the two 

 together again, but during the next fortnight I constantly 

 saw -the male and twice the female, after which I had, 

 unfortunately, no further opportunity of visiting the spot. 



The nest, I regret to say, I was unable to find. - - 



Lewis R. W. Loyd. 



