Family MOTACILLIDZ. 
Genus MOTACILLA. 
Ficedula apud Brisson, Orn. iii. p. 461 (1760). 
Motacilla, Linneus, Syst. Nat. i. p. 328 (1766). 
Parus apud 8. G. Gmelin, Reise, iii. p. 101 (1774). 
Pallenura apud Pallas, Zoogr. Rosso-As. i. p. 500 (1811). 
Budytes apud Cuvier, Regne Animal, p. 871 (1817). 
Calobates apud Kaup, Natiirl. Syst. p. 33 (1829). 
Tue Wagtails and Pipits have by many authors been placed near the Larks; but they certainly 
assimilate much more closely with the Thrushes and Warblers, though differing from these in 
haying nine primaries. 
This genus ranges throughout the Palearctic, Ethiopian, and Oriental Regions; and 
one species (Motacilla flava) is found in the north-western portion of the Nearctic Region. 
Eight species inhabit the Western Palearctic Region, all of which are constant residents and 
breed within its limits. The Wagtails frequent pasture and grassy open country where there is 
plenty of water, and are usually seen on the borders of streams and lakes. One species 
(Motacilla melanope) evinces a partiality for mountain-streams, and is not unfrequently met 
with in rocky and even in almost sterile places. ‘These birds feed on insects of various kinds, 
small Crustacea and Mollusca, usually searching for their food near water. They run with 
great ease, and almost always vibrate their body like some of the small Waders; they fly with 
tolerable rapidity and ease, their flight being undulating. ‘They build an open cup-shaped nest 
of dry grass, moss, &c., lined with wool, hair, or feathers, and deposit five or six greyish-white, 
buffy-white, or pale brownish eggs, marked or spotted with grey or brown. The genus Motacilla 
has by many authors been subdivided into Motacilla, Budytes, and Calobates, the first containing 
all the black-and-white species, the second Motacilla flava and its allies, which have a long hind 
claw, and the third Motacilla melanope only; but it appears to me unnecessary to do this, and I 
have preferred to retain all under the present genus. 
Motacilla alba, the type of the genus, has the bill moderately long, straight, slender, 
rather broader than high at the base, the notch obsolete, nostrils small, elliptical; bristles on 
the gape very small, scarcely perceptible; wings long, rather broad, first quill long, the three 
first quills about equal in length, these being the longest; inner secondaries very long, one 
being nearly equal in length to the first three primaries; tarsus very long, much longer than 
the middle toe with the claw, covered in front with four large plates and three inferior scutelle ; 
tail very long, slender, nearly even or slightly rounded. 
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