io6 Summer Studies of Birds and Books chap. 



presented to the British Museum with their nest 

 and young. On 25th June 1890 I was walking 

 with Mr. 0. V. Aplin near Banbury, when by a 

 large mill-pond we found a pair of Wagtails, of which 

 the male was undoubtedly a Pied' Wagtail, while the 

 female was gray all over, including the head. That 

 this female was a White Wagtail was ]\Tr. Aplin's 

 conclusion on the spot, and I believe that he still 

 thinks so. The female White Wagtail, he told me, 

 occasionally has a gray head, instead of the neat 

 black cap that contrasts so strikingly with the 

 pearl-gray of the back in this species ; and, if I 

 recollect right, we were able to confirm this state- 

 ment during a visit to the Contiaent the next year. 

 But the endless varieties of Wagtail plumage, in old 

 and young, and male and female, at different times 

 of the year, must be left to those who have time and 

 materials for a close and accurate study. 



When the Pied Wagtail was first distinguished 

 by naturalists from its Continental cousins, it re- 

 ceived the unfortunate name of Motctdlla lugubris, or 

 the AVagtail in mourning, in allusion to its black and 

 white dress.-' To give such a name to such a bird 

 is to forget that he is something more than an 



^ It is now generally known as M. YarrrUii, a name given it by 

 Gonld in honour of liis friend Yarrell. Tims both those forms of 

 Wagtail which are specially associated with this country bear very 

 approju-iately the names of English naturalists. The Continental 

 forms are M. alba and If. flava. 



