128 BLUE-HEADED WAGTAIL. 
readers to Dr. Sharpe’s views (Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. x. pp. 516-532). 
I have only room for the broad statement that in Upper Scandi- 
navia, Northern Europe, and Siberia, migrating as far as the south 
of Africa and India, there is a form (the male of which has a nearly 
black crown and no eyé-streak) known as JZ. viridis of Gmelin, or 
better as AZ. borealis of Sundevall ; two examples of which are said 
to have occurred at Penzance. In the basin of the Mediterranean 
is found a close ally, AZ. cineretcapilla of Savi, with grey crown but 
very little eye-streak ; while in South-eastern Europe and Central 
Asia there is an easily recognizable race with a very black head and 
no eye-stripe, known as JZ. feldeget or M. melanocephala ; and when, 
as in Hungary, this black-headed bird exhibits a narrow white eye- 
stripe, it is called AZ, paradoxa. 
Breeding commences in the latter half of May; the nest being 
placed on the ground among herbage in meadows and corn-fields. 
It is composed of fine roots, grass and moss, lined with horsehair 
and a few feathers; the 4-6 eggs being yellowish-white, clouded 
with pale brown, and sometimes scrolled with black at the larger 
end: measurements *78 by °56 in. The food consists of insects 
and their larve ; and the bird is very partial to small flies, in pursuit 
of which it may be seen strutting and fluttering within a few inches 
of the muzzles of grazing horses or cattle; whence the German 
name ‘Kuh-stelze.’ The call-note is a shrill chit-up. 
The adult male in breeding-plumage has the crown and nape 
bluish-grey ; lores and ear-coverts dark slate-grey ; over each eye and 
ear-covert a white streak ; mantle olive, tinged with yellow ; wing- 
coverts dark brown, with yellowish-white tips, forming a double bar ; 
secondaries margined with the same colour ; quills dark brown ; tail- 
feathers blackish-brown, except the two outer pairs, which are white 
with black edges to the inner webs; chin and a line below the lores 
white ; throat, breast and tail-coverts bright gamboge-yellow ; bill, 
legs and feet black. Length 6°3 in. ; wing 3°2 in. The female is 
rather shorter ; the head has a more olive tint, and the yellow of the 
under parts is less pronounced. In autumn both sexes acquire an 
olive-brown tinge. The young are greenish-hrown above, with a 
rough V-shaped line of brown spots from the nape to the breast, 
while the under parts are only pale yellow ; but the wé/?e eye-stripe 
which serves to distinguish typical examples of this species from our 
Yellow Wagtail is always present. Young males often display in 
their first spring some dark mottlings on the throat, grey patches on 
the head, and a considerable amount of yellow on the shoulders. 
