194 BRITISH BIRDS. 



MOTACILLA YARRELLII. 

 PIED WAGTAIL. 



(Plate 14.) 



Motacilla alba, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 331 (1766, partim). 



Motaeilla lugubris, Pallas, fide Temm. Man. cCOrn. i. p. 253 (1820, partim). 



Motacilla lotor, Rennie, Mont. Orn. Diet. p. 377 (1833). 



Motacilla yarrellii, Gould, Pivc. Zool. Soc. 1837, p. 74 ; et auctorum plurimorum 

 — Bonaparte, Degland ^ Gerhe, Salvadori, Savi, Homeyer, Blasius, Taczanowsky, 

 Tarrell, Gray, MacgilKway, Thompson, Irby, Sharpe, Hurting, Stevenson, &c. 



Motacilla alba lugubris, Schlegel, Rev. Crit. p. 37 (1844). 



The Pied Wagtail is very widely distributed throughout the British 

 Islands, and, except in the extreme north, is a resident species. It appears 

 to be migratory in the Hebrides, and is also a summer visitor to St. Kilda. 

 To the Shetlands it is a spring and autumn visitor^ most numerous at 

 the latter season; but it is not known to have visited the Faroes or 

 Iceland. 



On the continent the distribution of the Pied "Wagtail is extremely 

 limited. It breeds sparingly in the south-west of Norway, frequently 

 occurring on Heligoland on migration ; and it occasionally breeds in 

 Holland, and more abundantly in North-west Prance. It is a common 

 winter visitor to South-west France, Portugal, and Western Spain, and 

 occasionally crosses the straits into Tangiers. Stragglers have been 

 obtained in Belgium, and as far east as Italy and Sicily. 



Although Temminck and Vieillot were acquainted with the Pied Wag- 

 tail as early as 1820, and recognized its distinctness from the White Wag- 

 tail, English ornithologists confounded the two together until 1837, when 

 Gould, with his habitual keen eye for a species, pointed out the difference 

 between them. The confusion arose from the imperfect diagnosis of 

 Linnaeus, who doubtless himself knew both forms, and considered them 

 identical, since he not only refers both to the Motacilla alba of Willughby 

 and of Albin, which are unmistakably black-backed birds, but also adopted 

 the name which these ornithologists had used, and apparently so worded 

 his apology for a description as to include them both. 



The Pied Wagtail, although it is so common, from its neat appearance and 

 lively cheerful habits is always admired. It loves to frequent the neigh- 

 bourhood of water, which is almost as essential to its presence as it is to 

 the Dipper. It frequents every variety of scenery, and may be seen 

 daintily running round the margins of mountain-pools and upland-lakes 

 as well as near the horse-ponds, brooks, and large sheets of water in the 



