MOTACILLIDA. T25 
THE GREY WAGTAIL. 
MOTACILLA MELANOPE, Pallas. 
This beautiful species, easily recognizable by the yellow tints of 
its under parts and its exceptionally long tail, is resident, or partially 
migratory, throughout those portions of the British Islands where 
streams are found in the vicinity of mountains, or even hills; 
but to the flat country and the sea-coast it is chiefly a visitor on 
migration and in winter. It breeds regularly in Cornwall, Devon, 
Somerset, Dorset and Wilts; and sparingly in Hampshire, Surrey, 
Sussex, Kent, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Leicestershire and 
Lincolnshire. In Wales and the Marches, as well as on both sides of 
the Pennine range, it is common, increasing in numbers to the north- 
ward. In Scotland it is generally distributed, although not very 
abundant in Sutherland and Caithness ; it nests in small numbers in 
Skye, and occasionally visits the Outer Hebrides, Orkneys and 
Shetlands. It breeds throughout Ireland, where it is a familiar 
species. 
On the Continent the Grey Wagtail barely reaches the extreme 
south of Sweden, and is very rare in Northern Germany, while in 
Russia it is hardly found beyond the latitude of Moscow; but in 
the mountainous and even rolling ground of the central and 
southern parts of Europe it is fairly common; breeding down to 
the basin of the Mediterranean, where it is a resident, as it is 
also in the Canaries, Madeira and the Azores. Eastward, it is 
