WHITE-WINGED TIED WAGTAIL. 87 



and young are not good specific indications. The clear black head 

 predominates in warm, and the black-grey head in temperate climates, 

 the grey-yellow head being peculiar to England. 



Under these circumstances, and after consulting various specimens, 

 and leaving the English species for others to discuss, I shall introduce 

 into this work the subject of the present notice as distinct; and 31. 

 Jlara-cinereocep/tala having been introduced into the British fauna, 

 and figured by Gould, I shall figure and describe 31. Jlava-melano- 

 ccpliala as a distinct species. 



Motacilla vidua was excluded by Schlegel and Bonaparte from the 

 European list, the former stating we had no proof of its existence in 

 Europe. The Rev. Canon Tristram has however been kind enough to 

 draw my attention to some recent captures in Turkey and the Crimea, 

 which have confirmed the original notice of this bird by Pallas, on 

 the borders of the Black Sea. 



This bird is very distinct from either 31. yarrellii or 31. alba, and 

 may probably be considered typical of the pied races. 



I have been favoured with the following notes by Canon 

 Tristram: — "The bird figured by Roux, Orn. Prov., under this name, 

 and also that described by Temminck, in 1820, is merely the Mota- 

 cilla yarrellii of Gould. Though Temminck corrected this error in 

 his edition of 1836, and suppressed all that he had formerly written 

 on the subject, yet these authors have been implicitly followed in their 

 mistakes by almost all subsequent writers. So much easier is it to 

 perpetuate error than to correct it. 



Bonaparte, who had in his catalogue included 31. vidua among the 

 Birds of Europe, in his later work, the " Conspectus, " while acknow- 

 ledging the specific value of M. lugubris, excludes it from the Birds 

 of Europe, having only seen Japanese specimens. Pallas, however, 

 found it on the shores of the Black Sea, and it has since been 

 frequently obtained in Turkey. Several specimens were sent home 

 by officers engaged in the Crimean war, which had been obtained 

 near Sebastopol, some of which I have had the pleasure of examining. 

 It winters regularly in Egypt and Nubia, which appear to be its 

 western limits, and where it meets the 31. alba of Europe. Thus we 

 find one form, 31. alba, with its western variety, 31. yarrellii, extending 

 over the whole of Europe and North Africa, and another, 31. vidua, 

 occupying the vast continent of Asia, and in its western limits dis- 

 puting its territory with 31. alba. It would also appear from the 

 remarks of Middendorff that as 31. alba varies in its western habitat 

 from the typical form, so does 31. vidua in the extreme east become 

 more marked in its coloration. 



