184 WHITLOCK: PIED AND WHITE WAGTAILS IN NOTTS. 
of the Pied Wagtail.’ I also think, if anything, they are more lively 
in their movements and rather shyer. A Pied Wagtail takes but 
little notice of a small boat passing within a few feet ; the White 
Wagtail will not permit this. I found my flock to consist of five, 
apparently of both sexes. A little later in the month, I was led by 
the difference in their notes to identify two more 
It may be interesting to those who are not familiar with the White 
Wagtail to enter into some of the differences of plumage between it 
and the Pied Wagtail. There can be no difficulty in distinguishing 
the males in breeding plumage, the glossy black head and mantle of 
the Pied Wagtail being in strong contrast to the dull black head and 
clear pearl-grey mantle of the White Wagtail. 
Females in breeding plumage of both species seem to be subject 
to some variation, but there is one constant difference, and this 
applies also to birds of the year and adults in winter plumage, as 
pointed out by Mr. Aplin. In JZ. yarrellit the upper tail coverts 
are black ; in JZ. alba they are dull lead grey, no black being met 
with until the tail is reached. 
The female of JZ yarre/lii in breeding plumage has the general 
colour of the upper parts dark grey, boldly mottled with black, the 
head having more black than grey, and the grey being of a rather 
muddy tinge. In the White Wagtail the mantle is clear pearl grey, 
the head having a darker appearance, owing to a few streaks of black 
on either side of the crown, of greater or lesser intensity in different 
individuals.* But there is another variety of the female IZ. yarrel/it 
not alluded to by Mr. Aplin, and which I have met with several 
times, the mantle in this case being pure grey, though darker than in 
the case of AZ. alba, and, curiously enough, the head and nape are dull 
black, with hardly any grey mottling at all. It was the knowledge 
of this variety that made me hesitate in recording the supposed inter- 
breeding of the two species in Notts. An interesting fact in con- 
nection with this case is that the eggs produced were of very small 
strengthened by the female having a grey head, a characteristic 
I never observed in AZ. yarreliii. 
I feel sure that I have read somewhere that old females of 
M. yarrellii become very grey. I think, on the contrary, that 
young females are grey, and also of a smaller size, the difference in 
the length of the wings and tail of these grey specimens compared 
with dark ones being very apparent. 
* Females of A/. alba often have a few white feathers on the chin and throat. 
I have a female JZ. yarrellii marked in a similar manner, 
Naturalist, 
