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each other very closely, and are exceedingly difficult to separate, especially as, so far as I can judge, 
there is no constant difference in size. As a rule, the young of the present species have the crown 
darker, and always lack the light streak over the eye. Mr. Brooks sends me specimens of females in 
what he says is full breeding-dress, as above described and figured ; but it appears to me that the old 
female frequently approaches very close to the male in plumage; for I possess one female from Malta 
which differs from the male only in having the upper parts a trifle duller, the black on the crown and 
nape less extended and intermixed with green, and the underparts. are nearly, if not quite, as yellow as 
in the male. A male shot in December, and therefore in full winter dress, has the underparts pale 
yellow, the lower throat marked with blackish spots, the back lighter and duller than in the summer 
dress, and the crown greyish, tinged with green, and strongly blotched with deep black. The most 
peculiar variety of the present species I have ever seen is a male sent to me by Mr. Brooks. The black 
on the head and nape is extended far down on the latter; the back is dark olive with an orange-green 
tinge, indistinctly marked with blackish; and the underparts are deep rich orange instead of yellow. 
In measurements it agrees with ordinary specimens of M. melanocephala. It was obtained by Captain 
Marshall, to whom it belongs, at Umritzur, in India, on the 3lst March, 1872. The present species 
is said sometimes to have an indication of a yellow superciliary stripe; but I have never been fortunate 
enough to obtain a specimen thus marked. 
THE present species is essentially a southern bird, being found only (except as a rare straggler) 
in Southern Europe and Asia, and in Northern Africa. It has not been met with in Great 
Britain or in Scandinavia; and although very dark varieties of Motacilla viridis somewhat 
closely resemble it, yet these may always, so far as my experience goes, be distinguished by 
the top of the head being slaty black and not pure black, a broad streak on each side of the 
head only being black, and the underparts are not so bright yellow. In Germany it does not 
appear to have been met with, or at least recorded from the mainland; but Mr. Gatke has, 
Mr. Cordeaux says (Ibis, 1875, p. 181), obtained it several times at Heligoland. Baron De 
Selys-Longchamps records it from Belgium as of very rare occurrence, and says that a large 
flock was observed towards the end of the summer near Louvain; and Messrs. Degland and 
Gerbe say that it rarely occurs in the north of France during summer: but I think it possible 
that these notes may refer to the Northern Scandinavian form, J/. viridis. Dr. E. Rey writes 
(J. f.O. 1872, p. 151) that he found it tolerably common in Portugal in company with J. flava ; 
but I think it very possible that the bird he refers to may be the northern form of JZ. viridis, 
for the present species appears to be more of an eastern than a western form. I do not find it 
recorded from Spain; and in Italy it appears to be only known from Liguria, but is more 
numerous, though still rare, in Sicily; and as it has been observed in May, it may very possibly 
breed there. 
Mr. C. A. Wright, who records it from Malta, writes (Ibis, 1864, p. 62) that it is the rarest 
of the Yellow Wagtails which occur there, and is met with in flocks of WZ. flava and WV. viridis. 
“The Maltese bird-catchers,” he adds, “call it Obrosk, from a real or fancied grating peculiarity 
in its note, both in spring and autumn, which they consider different from that of IZ. flava or 
M. cinereo-capilla.” Lord Lilford, who met with it in Albania, writes (Ibis, 1860, p. 229) that it 
“arrives together with J. viridis at Corfu, but in much smaller numbers, and only remains for a 
few days. ‘The locality in which I have most frequently observed this bird was the marsh at the 
mouth of the Kataito river, near Butrinto, in Epirus. They appear to be more arboreal in their 
