GilEY WAGTAIL. 207 



greenish yellow on the rump and upper tail-coverts; the wings and wing- 

 coverts are blackish brown, the latter with pale margins ; the secondaries, 

 including the innermost, with the basal half white and the outer web of 

 the latter margined with buffish white; the six centre tail-feathers are 

 brownish black margined with greenish yellow, the outermost feather 

 on each side white ; the next two with the inner web white, but the greater 

 portion of the outer web brownish black ; a narrow white eye-stripe ex- 

 tends from the base of the bill to about half an inch behind the eye, and 

 another stripe of the same colour extends downwards from the base of the 

 lower mandible along the sides of the throat and the upper breast, which 

 are black; the remainder of the underparts are canary-yellow. Bill 

 black ; legs, feet, and claws brown ; irides dark brown. The female closely 

 resembles the male, but is rather duller in colour, and generally has the 

 throat nearly white; but occasionally more or less dark brown feathers 

 appear, principally on the sides. 



After the autumn moult there is very little difference between the sexes ; 

 the upper parts are slightly suffused with olive, and the throat and upper 

 breast are white. Young in first plumage and birds of the year closely 

 resemble their parents in winter plumage ; but the upper parts are suffused 

 with sandy brown, and the eye-stripe and the underparts are suffused with 

 buff. After the spring moult, when the black throat is assumed, each black 

 feather has a white margin, broad in males of the year, but narrow in adults. 

 In the latter these margins disappear almost entirely during summer. 



The Grey Wagtail of both sexes, and at every age and season, may 

 be distinguished from all the other British Wagtails by its uniting the 

 characters of a grey back with a green rump and upper tail-coverts. It has 

 no very close ally ; but its nearest relation is probably M. flaviventris, from 

 Madagascar, which differs in having the black on the throat confined to a 

 crescentic gorget, and in having the upper tail-coverts black. 



