BLUE-HEADED WAGTAIL. 209 



northern limit of its range in Russia. In Western Europe it is found 

 down to Gibraltar, and crosses the straits into Tangiers ; but in Eastern 

 Europe it does not breed so far south. It passes through South Russia, 

 Greece, and North-east Africa on migration, and winters in South Africa, 

 whence it has been received from Damara Land, Natal, and the Transvaal. 

 In Asia it is said to have about the same range to the north, but in Alaska 

 it breeds up to lat. 64°. It breeds throughout South Siberia, Mongolia, 

 and North China, wintering in India and Burma. In Turkestan it is only 

 known on migration. It is doubtful whether it has occurred in Persia, 

 but it breeds in the Caucasus. The Asiatic form, to which Pallas gave the 

 name of Motacilla flaveola, differs slightly from the European form. The 

 green on the back is yellower ; the white on the chin extends to the upper 

 throat and more or less to the ear-coverts ; the grey on the head is paler 

 and bluer, and on an average the tail is slightly shorter. At most it can 

 only claim subspecific rank, as many examples from Eastern Europe and 

 Western Asia are intermediate. A more marked local race, which may 

 possibly be specifically distinct, is resident in the island of Formosa and 

 on the adjoining mainland of China, and is distinguished by its canary- 

 yellow eye-stripe. The olive-green of the back is slightly darker than in 

 European examples, and also replaces the slate-grey of the head. Swinhoe 

 named this form M. taivanus ; but as Dybowsky found two examples near 

 Lake Baikal, and Meves obtained one near Stockholm, its specific distinct- 

 ness can scarcely be regarded as established. An Arctic form of the 

 Blue-headed Yellow Wagtail, M. cinereocapiUa, breeds in North Europe 

 and Asia, between lat. 63° and 68°, passes through Central and 

 Southern Europe on migration, and winters in Africa somewhere south 

 of Abyssinia. A colony of these birds also breeds in the Lombard Alps. 

 The Asiatic birds pass through Turkestan and China on migration, and 

 winter in India, Ceylon, and Burma. This form has not yet been recorded 

 from the British Islands, although it was erroneously inserted in the British 

 fauna by Mr. Gould. It differs in having no eye-stripe, and in having the 

 lores and ear-coverts nearly black. A tropical form, M. melanocephala, 

 also with no eye-stripe, and having the crown as well as the ear-coverts 

 and lores black, is a summer visitor to Italy, Greece, Asia Minor, the 

 Caucasus, Persia, and Turkestan. The European birds winter in North- 

 east Africa, where a few remain to breed ; whilst the Asiatic birds pass 

 the cold season in India. Intermediate forms between this bird and both 

 M. flava and M. cinereocapiUa occur, so that probably none of them are 

 specifically distinct. 



The Blue-headed Wagtail is strictly a migratory bird in Europe, and 

 does not reach the southern shores of the German Ocean until April, a 

 month later than the arrival of the White Wagtail in the same locality, 

 and long after the Yellow Wagtail has found its way to our islands. The 



VOL. II. p 



