3 
habits than the other Wagtails, and have a very distinct and peculiar note. The Corfu bird- 
stuffer told me, on my showing him one of this species, that he had never before observed it, 
and insisted that it was only a variety of J. viridis; but there are slight differences of habits, 
flight, &c. which at once distinguish it from that bird, were the plumage not at once sufficient 
to settle the question. ‘To myself this species appears to resemble Motacilla raii (which I have 
never observed in these parts) in all particulars more than any other of its congeners.” In 
Greece it appears to be common, and remains there throughout the summer, inhabiting the 
marshes and lagoons on the sea-shore, being, Dr. Kriiper states, most common on the islands 
frequented by Gulls in Acarnania. It arrives, he says, about the end of March, and in 1873 
several were killed in Attica on the 24th March; and a specimen in the Museum at Athens was 
killed on the 18th March, 1868. In 1874 it arrived on the Ist April. The breeding-season 
commences late in April or in May; and in 1859 eggs were found in Acarnania on the 29th 
April. It leaves in the autumn late in August or in September; but Dr. Kriiper adds that he 
has not yet detailed information respecting the exact date of its departure. It appears to be 
tolerably common in Turkey ; and Mr. Robson has sent me several specimens of the bird, as well 
as the nest and eggs, from near Constantinople. It occurs in Southern Russia; but it is some- 
what difficult to trace its range there, as the various writers on the ornithology of that country 
have not sufficiently well distinguished between it and JZ. flava. Ménétries says that it fre- 
quents the pastures on the banks of the Kour, near Saliane, in the Caucasus, and is met with in 
tolerably large flocks; Dr. Kriiper records it as numerous on the islands off Smyrna during 
the summer season; and Canon Tristram, who does not consider it distinct from MZ. flava, 
met with it in Palestine. In North-east Africa it is tolerably common; Captain Shelley states 
(B. of Egypt, p. 130) that in Nubia he frequently met with it in April in flocks among the 
herbage by the river-side, and writes as follows:—‘ Although I shot many specimens out of 
these flocks, I never came across a grey-headed bird among them. They were evidently migrating 
northward at that season. In the Fayoom, in March, I shot the only pair of these birds which 
I saw there.” It would appear that the present species is the only Yellow Wagtail which 
remains to breed in North-east Africa; for Von Heuglin met with it late in the spring in Egypt, 
and believes that it remains there for the summer, and Mr. Blanford, who obtained it in 
Abyssinia, writes (Geol. & Zool. Abyss. p. 381) as follows:—‘*‘ Common everywhere during the 
winter; and I suspect many remain and breed on the highlands of Abyssinia; for birds of this 
species were still abundant about Lake Ashangi at the beginning of May, although they had 
then assumed the nuptial plumage more than a month.” In North-west Africa it is also stated 
to occur; for Loche says that a specimen was obtained near Ain Oussera, but that it is a very 
rare straggler in Algeria. 
To the eastward it occurs as far as India; but, judging from the specimens collected by 
Mr. Swinhoe, it is not met with in China, nor does it appear to visit Siberia. It is recorded 
from Armenia by De Filippi; Mr. Blanford met with it in Persia and Baluchistan; and it 
appears to be tolerably widely distributed in India; but, owing to its having been so generally 
confused with WW. flava and JM. viridis, it is somewhat difficult to define its precise range. It 
certainly occurs in Turkestan, and breeds there commonly in almost all parts of the country. 
In its habits the Black-headed Wagtail does not differ much from its allies 7. flava and 
2F 
