PIED WAGTAIL. 40] 
under tail-coverts white; sides of the body and flanks 
black ; legs, toes, and claws, black; the hind claw rather 
short. 
The whole length of a male bird seven inches and a 
half. From the carpal joint to the end of the wing three 
mches and three eighths; the first three primaries very 
nearly equal in length, but the first of the three rather 
the longest in the wing. 
The adult female is half an inch shorter in the whole 
length than the male; and only differs from him, at this 
season, in having the back lead-grey, mottled with darker 
feathers, almost as black as those on the back of the male 
at this season. 
In the adult male and female in winter plumage, the 
black colour of the head and nape of the neck does not 
extend to the back, which is then nearly uniform ash-grey ; 
chin and throat white; the black colour on the front of 
the neck only appearing in the form of a gorget or cres- 
cent, the horns of which are directed upwards to the back 
part of the ear-coverts. The darker colour of the plumage 
of the breeding season is obtained in the spring by an al- 
teration taking place in the colour of the feathers, not 
by losing the old feathers and gaining new ones: the an- 
nual moult takes place in autumn. 
Young birds of the year resemble the parent birds in 
their winter plumage, except that the head is not black, 
but ash-grey, like the back; the cheeks and ear-coverts 
are tinged with yellow, and the upper part of the breast 
mottled with greyish black. 
In their winter dress, as observed by Mr. Gould, there is 
less difference in the colour of the plumage. 
The marked specific distinction between these two Wag- 
tails, is, that the beak of our Pied Wagtail is broader than 
VOL. I. DE Diss 
