68 BRITISH BIRDS’ EGGS. 
(BLUE HEADED) YELLOW WAGTAIL. 
Moractnia FLAVA, Temm. 
Pl. X., fig. 33. 
Geogr. distr.—Central Europe and Asia during the breeding 
season; southern Europe and Asia or N. Africa during seasons of 
passage ; in Great Britain it has occurred in Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, 
Sussex, Kent, Essex, Suffolk, and Norfolk, chiefly from April to June. 
Food.—Insects and Mollusca. 
Nest.—Somewhat loosely constructed of fine rootlets, grass, straws, 
and bents, sometimes mixed with moss; lined with horse-hair, wool, 
or fine bents, occasionally with wool mixed with a few downy feathers. 
Position of nest.—On the ground under a tussock, or in the bank 
of an old dry ditch amongst rather dense herbage. 
Number of eggs.—4-5}; rarely 6. 
Time of nidification—V-V1; usually beginning of June. 
About the first week of June, 1885, my friend Mr. 
William Drake forwarded to me a nest and eggs found by 
one of his boys amongst the grass in the saltings by the 
creek at Kemsley, near Sheppy, in Kent; the bird was 
known to the boy by the popular name of ‘“‘ Whip Jack,” 
and was described as having a ‘black head with white 
ring,” a near enough description to identify the species 
with the blue-headed Wagtail.* The nest is slighter than 
those of the three other species which I obtained at 
Kemsley in May; it is formed of fine fibrous roots and 
coarse grasses, and is thickly lined with black horse-hair ; 
it contains six eggs of a pale, yellowish-brown colour, 
rather yellower than those of the Yellow Wagtail (MJ. rai), 
and not unlike some eggs of the Sedge Warbler, excepting 
that they are slightly larger and have a more polished 
surface. 
The saltings at Kemsley are spongy and marshy, for 
the most part covered with wiry grass tussocks. 
*I may mention that I have seen this species of Wagtail within 
a mile or two of Kemsley, and at the same time of year; it differs 
noticeably from the Yellow Wagtail in its grey instead of pale olive 
head, the white instead of yellow line over the eye, and the white 
instead of yellow chin and throat; the tail feathers also differ. 
