4 
visitant to Egypt, but its numbers rapidly diminish in the spring. Von Heuglin says that it is 
resident in Egypt, but is much commoner in the winter than in the summer season. He met 
with it on the Red Sea and the Somali coast only in November and December, In the interior 
it is a winter visitant only, and ranges as far south as the Upper Abiad, Azrag, and Abyssinia. 
Mr, Blanford, who met with it in the last-named country, writes (Geol. & Zool. Abyss. p. 380):— 
“Common both on the highlands and near the coast. I cannot see that the specimens 
collected by me in Abyssinia show the slightest difference from others shot in Western India 
and belonging to the supposed species J/. dukhunensis, Sykes. On the lst of May there were 
still specimens on the highlands around Lake Ashangi, but only very few remained. A month 
earlier they had been numerous.” In North-west Africa it is said to be common during winter: 
Loche records it as numerous in Algeria; and Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun., writes (Ibis, 1871, p. 85) 
as follows :—“ Universally distributed during the spring and winter, but, on the whole, com- 
moner in the Tell than in the Sahara. On one occasion I observed a large flock on a newly 
ploughed field. They are decidedly gregarious at certain seasons, Numbers were seen one 
evening at Laghouat, settling to roost in a wet field of wheat. Though it was already the 26th 
of March, many were still in winter plumage.’ Mr. Salvin found it common at Tunis in 
February; Mr. Chambers-Hodgetts met with it in Tripoli; and Favier states (according to 
Colonel Irby) that “it is the most abundant of the Wagtails near Tangier, arriving during 
September and October, leaving in March. ‘They are to be seen in large flocks following the 
plough, twittering incessantly.” Swainson records it from Senegal, Verreaux from Casamanse, 
and Daubeny from Zanzibar. Mr. Godman does not include it in his list of the birds of Madeira 
and the Canaries; but Dr. ‘C. Bolle states (J. f. O, 1854, p. 455) that it visits the Canaries every 
winter. 
To the eastward the present species occurs at least as far as Lake Baikal. Mr. Blanford 
says that it breeds in Persia; Mr. A. O. Hume speaks of it as being abundant throughout Sindh. 
In India its range is somewhat difficult to trace, as it has been confused with allied species, and 
I find no reliable data to work on. Dr. Henderson did not meet with it in Yarkand; but 
Severtzoff states that it occurs in Turkestan, but was generally seen on passage. Von Midden- 
dorff, Schrenck, and Radde all refer to it as being found in Siberia; but as they unite the 
present and other allied Asiatic species, it is impossible to decide as to which they speak of 
without comparing their specimens. It certainly, however, occurs at Lake Baikal; for I possess 
specimens collected there by Dr. Dybowski which I cannot specifically separate from European 
examples of Motacilla alba. A very closely allied species is IZ. ocularis, Swinhoe, which differs 
merely in having a narrow dark streak passing through the eye 
In its habits the White Wagtail does not in the least differ from our common British species 
(Motacilla lugubris); and what I have written respecting the habits and nidification of that 
species is equally applicable to the present bird. I may, however, give the following translation 
of some notes sent to me by Mr. Carl Sachse, of Altenkirchen. ‘‘ Here,” he writes, ‘‘ this bird is 
very common. In the spring the males arrive about a week before the females; and they do not 
immediately resort to their old nesting-places, but wander about in the meadows, where, in bad 
seasons, they have some difficulty in finding food. Soon after the female arrives the pair take 
possession of their nesting-place and commence nidification. This Wagtail affects the vicinity of © 
