THE YELLOW WAGTAIL. 223 



into our cabin, and remained in the vessel all day. They 

 were very tame; and it was amusing to see them fly-catching 

 on the deck, where they appeared to great advantage, and met 

 with considerable success. They looked most ludicrous, poking 

 out the neck, opening wide the bill, and then, with such gestures 

 duly enacted, making the unerring dart at the victim. These 

 two individuals, together with the following, were noticed in the 

 Annals of Natural History, vol. viii. p. 125, et seq., as females of 

 M. neglecta, but they were set down at the time as M.flava, and 

 their characters noted. On comparing them with Yarrell's descrip- 

 tion of the female M. neglecta, it is evident they could not have 

 of been that species, as indeed a comparison of actual specimens 

 has further proved. 



On the 23rd of April two alighted, and remained for some 

 time; we were then about eighty miles N.E. of Malta. On the 

 24th, when not very distant from the same place, several of these 

 birds arrived; one of them entered the cabin very boldly, 

 and entertained us much by its familiarity. Persons passing in or 

 out of the room did not for a moment deter it from fly-catching, 

 which was accomplished by running, leaping, or taking short flights 

 at its prey ; this bird even alighted on the persons present, and 

 picked flies off their clothes. 



The other wagtails which came on board were the blue or grey- 

 headed species, M. neglecta. The first occurred on the 16th of 

 April, on our passage from Marseilles to Malta in the French 

 steam-packet, when two male birds alighted, about twenty 

 miles southward of the most southern point of Italy ; they were 

 very tame, and remained in the vessel for half an hour. April 26th, 

 when about eighty miles from Zante, and 130 from Navarino, 

 two or three arrived; and one did so on the following day, 

 when the vessel was about forty-five miles from Zante, and sixty, 

 west of the Morea. 



This species has not yet been added to the Irish fauna. Several 

 individuals have been obtained in various parts of England, and 

 two are said to have been procured in Scotland ; but Mr. Macgil- 

 livray is of opinion that they were instead M.flava or M. Rap. 



