66 BRITISH BIRDS’ EGGS. 
WHITE WAGTAIL. 
Moractnnia aupa, Linn. 
Pl. X., fig. 82. 
Geogr. distr.—Widely extended throughout the Palearctic Region; 
rare in Great Britain, but is known to have nested in the Isle of 
Wight and on the South Coast. 
Food.—Insects, slugs, and other small Mollusea, and small fish. 
Nest.—Formed of grass bents, rootlets, and moss, lined with hairs, 
and occasionally a few feathers. 
Position of nest.—In a hole in the ground, a faggot-stack, stone 
heap, or wall. 
Number of eggs.—5-7. 
Time of nidification.—IV-VI; rarely as late as October. 
The habits of this bird are very similar to those of the 
Pied Wagtail; though it has been stated that the White 
Wagtail does not follow the plough lke our common 
species,* it is known to occur in Cornwall and N. Devon 
inspring. Mr. Broderick also found a pair nesting in a wall 
near Ilfracombe, and it is considered quite possible that it 
may breed in Kent, where the bird appears yearly ; indeed, 
as both nest and eggs resemble those of the commoner 
bird, it is not impossible that they may have been taken 
for that species, and so not recorded: the birds, however, 
differ considerably, the head and neck being at first sight 
very similar +; but the back, scapulars, ramp, and upper 
tail-coverts being pale ash-grey ; the primaries, secondaries, 
tertials, and wing-coverts, brownish black; as a whole, there- 
fore, this bird is much paler in colouring, and ought to be 
readily distinguished from the Pied Wagtail; if it sits as 
closely as I have known the latter species to do, it might 
even be caught upon the nest without much difficulty, and 
in that case there could be no question as to the species in 
the mind of its captor. 
* Until more well-authenticated instances of the discovery of the 
nest have been recorded, it appears to me to be premature to state 
anything definitely as to its nesting habits in this country. 
t Mr. Harting, however, gives the following distinctive characters :— 
“The head covered with a distinct hood of pure black, perfectly 
defined and not mixing either with the grey of the back or the 
white of the forehead; the white on the cheeks and sides of neck 
completely separates the black of the head from that of the throat 
and breast, there being no black before the shoulders; the sides are 
also much lighter, and the tail somewhat longer. In the female 
there is no mixture of black on the back and nape, which there is 
in the female Pied Wagtail.” 
