PASSERES. 

 Earn. MOTACILLID.E. 

 Bill lengthened, more or less slender, straight ; the culmen curved at the tip. Nostrils 

 placed nearer the margin than the culmen. Wings with the first three feathers nearly equal ; 

 the tertials greatly elongated, often exceeding the primaries. Legs and feet variable. The 

 tarsus more or less lengthened and covered with transverse scales ; hind claw variable, in some 

 much lengthened. Tail of 12 feathers, lengthened and narrow. 

 Of small size, elegant form, and mostly of terrestrial habit. 



Genus MOTACILLA. 

 Bill lengthened, typically slender, compressed towards the tip ; the culmen sloping from 

 the base, curved at the tip. Wings with the first three quills nearly equal, and either the 1st, 

 2nd, or 3rd the longest ; tertials nearly equal to the primaries. Tail equal to, or longer than, 

 the wings ; narrow and rounded at the tip. Tarsus longer than the middle toe and claw, the 

 lateral toes subequal, the outer, if any thing, the shorter ; hind claw short and curved. 



MOTACILLA MADERASPATENSIS. 



(THE INDIAN PIED WAGTAIL.) 



Motacilla maderaspatana, Brisson, Orn. iii. p. 478 (1783) ; Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. 



p. 137 (1849); Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1853, xii. p. 268; Jerdon, B. of Ind. 



ii. p. 217 (1863); Hume, Nest and Eggs, ii. p. 377 (1874); Ball, Str. Feath. 1874, 



p. 415 ; Brooks, ibid. 1875, p. 246 ; Butler & Hume, t. c. p. 489 ; Davidson & Wender, 



ibid. 1878, p. 84; Ball, t. c. p. 219. 

 Motacilla maderaspatensis, Gm. Syst. Nat. i. p. 961 (1788) ; Holdsw. P. Z. S. 1872, p. 458. 

 Motacilla picata, Frankl. P. Z. S. 1831, p. 119. 

 Black-and-WMte Wagtail ; Bergeronnette de Madras, Buffon ; The Great Pied Wagtail, Gould. 



Mamula, sometimes Bhuin mamula, also Khanjan, Hind. ; Sakala sarela gadu, Telugu 



(Jerdon). 



Adult male and female. Length 8'5 to 8'75 inches ; wing 3*7 to 4-0 ; tail 4-0 to 4-1 ; tarsus 1-0 ; middle toe and 



claw 0-8 ; bill to gape 0-8 to 0-82. 

 Iris dark brown ; bill black ; legs and feet brownish black. 



Male, hreedhuj-plumage. Upper surface, from the forehead to the upper tail-coverts, and also the entire neck 

 and throat glossy black ; wings and all but the two outer pairs of tail-feathers less intense black than the 

 foregoing parts ; a broad stripe passing from the nostril over the eyes and down as far as the nape, the- tip- ami 

 outer webs of the median and greater secondary-coverts, a very broad outer margin to the secondaries, and the 

 two outer pairs of tail-feathers white; the base of the primaries and secondaries, a narrow outer edging to 

 the former, and the under surface from the chest to the under tail-coverts also white, as are likewise the under 

 wing-coverts ; flanks greyish at the junction with the black of the upper surface. 



