213 BRITISH BIRDS. 



MOTA.CILLA RAIL 

 YELLOW WAGTAIL. 



(Plate 14.) 



Motacilla flava, lAnn. apud Donovan, Hist. Brit. B. i. pi. xv. (1794). 



Budytes flavissima, Blyth, Mag. Nat. Hist. vii. p. 342 (18-34). 



Budytes flava {Linn?), apud Eyton, Cat. Brit. B. p. 15 (1836). 



Budytes rayi, Bonap. Comp. List B. Eur. and N. Amer. p. 18 (1838) ; et auctorum 



plurimorum — Yarrell, {Degland), (Gerbe), {Macgillivray), Gray, Dresser, 



Newton, &c. 

 Motacilla flava, var. angiica, Sund. Vet. Ale. Handl. Stockh. 1840, p. 53. 

 Motacilla flava rayi, ScMegel, Eev. Crit. p. xxxviii (1844). 

 Motacilla anglorum, Flurent Prevost,fide Degl. Orn. Eur. i. p. 442 (1849). 

 Budytes rayi, var. flavifrons, Sevaiz. Turk. Jevotn. p. 67 (1873). 



The Yellow Wagtail is a summer visitor to the British Islands^ hut only 

 appears to pass the Channel Islands occasionally on migration. It is 

 commonly distributed in England, except in the extreme south-west. In 

 Scotland it is most common in the southern counties; but it breeds 

 sparingly in Inverness and Aberdeen, and has been met with in Suther- 

 landshire. It has occurred several times in Orkney, and is a rare straggler 

 in autumn to the Shetlands. In Ireland it is only known to breed in one 

 locality, Lough Neagh ; but has occurred as a straggler in other places. 



On the continent of Europe it breeds in the north of France, passes 

 through the south of France, Spain, and Portugal on migration, and occa- 

 sionally strays into North-west Italy, in aU of which districts it is possible 

 that a few remain to breed. In Africa it has been found in winter as far 

 south as the Transvaal on the east coast, and has occurred iu Gambia, 

 the Gold Coast, and the Gaboon on the west. An isolated colony appears 

 to exist in South-east Russia and West Turkestan. 



The Yellow Wagtail has no very near ally with which it is likely to be 

 confused. From the green-headed variety of Motacilla flava found on 

 Formosa it may at once be distinguished by the colour of its ear-coverts, 

 which are yellow or yellowish green instead of greenish brown. 



The Yellow Wagtail bears the same relation to the Blue-headed Wagtail 

 that the Pied Wagtail does to the White Wagtail. There is scarcely any 

 difference between the two former birds, except in the colour of the head. 

 It would be impossible to say to which species an albino of either of them 

 belonged. Their habits are precisely the same, and their nests and eggs 

 are indistinguishable. Their favourite haunts scarcely differ. A meadow 

 amongst the Norfolk Broads is, or used to be, an almost exact duplicate in 



