70 THE BLUE- HEADED WAGTAIL. 



met with again, for I have never been able to 

 separate satisfactorily the Chinese examples from 

 their European representatives, though many orni- 

 thologists consider them to be specifically distinct. 

 This eastern colony of M. flava breeds in Eastern 

 Siberia, as far as Kamtschatka, and even extends 

 to Alaska, in North-west America. It passes 

 through China to its winter home in Burma and 

 the Indo-Malayan region, visiting even the Molucca 

 Islands during its winter migration. In Central 

 Siberia, on the other hand, certainly* in the Valley 

 of the Yenesei, and probably in that of the 

 Lena, an intermediate form of Blue-headed 

 Wagtail obtrudes itself, wedging in, as it were, 

 its range between the true Motacilla flava of 

 Europe and Eastern Siberia. This is the Indian 

 Blue-headed Wagtail, Motacilla beema, which 

 nests in the Siberian latitudes mentioned above, 

 and spends its winter in the Indian Peninsula. 

 It is a very pale-coloured edition of the ordinary 

 M. flava, and is easily recognisable as a distinct 

 race. 



The Blue-headed Wagtail is a regular visitant 

 to England in spring, and is probably more 

 frequent than is generally supposed. It arrives 



