92 YELLOW-HEADED WAGTAIL. 



"This species," says Middendorff, "breeds very rarely in Boganida, 

 (71° N., Br.) In the S. E. I missed it entirely. Gould falls into the 

 same mistake as Pallas in stating that the European Yellow Wagtail 

 exceeds 31. citreola in size. It is just the contrary. The colour of 

 the back of my Siberian species is also blackish, with a lead-coloured 

 tint, and not greenish, as it is represented by Gould. The summer 

 dress of the old female seems hitherto to have escaped observation; 

 what Pallas says respecting it is indefinite, and Gould's drawing does 

 not agree with the Siberian form. The female in summer dress has 

 the top of the head lead-grey, with a greenish tint, and the yellow 

 of the throat is separated from the yellow stripe over the eyes by a 

 grey band." 



Mr. E. Brooks, of Khugoul, near Dinapore, writes me about this 

 bird, — "The female has not a pure yellow head like the male, and 

 she has no black at the back of the neck. The black-backed species, 

 B. calcaratus, Hodgson, is quite distinct, but its female is very like 

 that of citreola. It breeds in Cashmere, but citreola leaves Cashmere 

 in June and end of May. I did not get the egg of the citreola, but 

 I shot the females which evidently had laid, as one of them contained 

 an egg as large as a marble. They were in pairs, and had all the 

 appearance of having nests, but they were too well concealed under 

 I think the clods in the ploughed fields for me to find them/' 



The adult male has the top of the head, cheeks, and inferior parts 

 generally vivid and pure citron yellow; nape, back, crop, and flanks, 

 lead-colour; at the bottom of the neck posteriorly there is a distinct 

 black semi-collar; middle and greater wing coverts bordered and ter- 

 minated with pure white, giving a double band of white across the 

 wing near the carpus; primaries brown; rectrices blackish, except the 

 two lateral tail feathers, which are pure white; feet and legs brown; 

 posterior claw longer than the toe. The males and females have no 

 black cross on the occiput after the autumn moult. 



The bird figured is from a fine male in my own collection, sent to 

 me by Mr. Brooks, of the Great Eastern Railway, India, who has 

 paid much attention to these birds. It was killed on the 9th. of March, 

 1871, and therefore is in breeding plumage. The black band on the 

 occiput mentioned by Middendorff is absent. 



The figure of the egg is also from a specimen in my own collection. 

 It was taken in Siberia in May, 1869, and was sent to me by Dr. 

 Meves, of Stockholm. 



Figured by Gould, pi. 144; Middendorff, Sibirische Reise, ii., pi. 14, 

 fig. 4; also by Mr. Dresser, B. of Europe, the male figure of which 

 is painfully large. 



