349 
OBSERVATIONS ON THE WHITE WAGTAIL. 
O;.V.. APLIN,. M.B.0.U., 
Author of ‘The Birds of Oxfordshire.’ 
As I have recently (June, 1891) seen something of the White 
Wagtail (Motacil/a alba) in Switzerland, I venture to add a few notes 
to those of Messrs. Whitlock and Macpherson. 
I paid especial attention to two points, viz., the arnount of black 
on the head of the adult female (vide Zool., 1890, page 375), and 
the note of the White as compared to that of the Pied Wagtail. 
I was only able to see three birds which I could be pretty sure 
were females, as the pairs were seldom together. One of these, 
which I was able to examine at close quarters on the landing-stage at 
Thun, had a grey crown and occiput. Another, one of a pair on a 
chalet roof in Meiringen, had a good deal of black on the head, 
although less, of course, than the male. The third bird also had 
black on the head. All the other adults that I saw had, more 
or less, black caps, and, of course, some of these may have been 
females. The oniy sexed female I could find in the Bern Museum 
had moulted into autumn dress ; it had zo black on the head, and 
an unsexed bird (apparently a bird of the year), in autumn dress, had 
also a grey crown. In the result my few observations seemed to 
confirm the opinion I expressed last year, that ‘This grey-crowned 
plumage in AMotacil/a alba (female) can hardly be universal, or it 
would surely have been noticed by some of the many ornithologists 
who have observed the White Wagtail on the continent.’ 
As to the notes of the two species. Having this matter in my 
mind I took every opportunity of listening carefully to the notes of 
the Pied Wagtail before leaving England, and as a pair were building 
in some pollard willows in front of my windows I had considerable 
facilities for getting the notes well into my head. The White 
Wagtail was considerably more common (in the lower grounds) in 
Switzerland than the Pied Wagtail is with us, so I heard a good 
Many. I found, as I expected, great difficulty in coming to a con- 
Clusion, for this reason: the note of the Pied Wagtail varies so much 
in pitch, intensity, and volume, that it seems impossible to say how 
loud the average ‘ physic’ (to use the lettering mentioned by the late 
Frank Buckland) of that bird is. The White Wagtail’s note also 
varies according to my limited observation of it, and my study of it 
was sometimes embarrassed by the sound, so common in Switzerland, 
of rushing water ; nevertheless I had also a good many uninterrupted 
listenings. The most I find myself able to say is that I never heard ' 
OV, 1892) / 
