468 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



almost universally 4, of a beautiful creamy white ground color, rarely 

 with a greenish tinge, marked with specks and blotches of cinnamon 

 brown, reddish, lilac and occasionally a few dark umber epots, with 

 obscure shell markings of lavender. Sometimes a distinct wreath is 

 formed near the larger end and the rest of the egg is nearly plain ; some- 

 times these markings are more evenly distributed. The eggs in my experi- 

 ence vary considerably in size, but the average dimensions are about .64 

 by .48 inches. Nesting dates in western New York vary from* May 20 

 to June 10. Later fresh sets are often found as late as the 26th of June 

 or even the loth of July. The average date for fresh eggs, however, is 

 May 28. Near New York City many fresh sets are recorded as early as 

 May 17. 



Family 1VIOTA.CILLIDA.E 



Wagtails 



Wings rather long and pointed; secondaries large and elongated; 

 primaries only 9; tail as long as the wing, square or rounded; bill shorter 

 than the head, slender, acute, straight and notched near the tip; nostril 

 uncovered; rictus slightly bristled; tarsus slender and scutellate; toes long 

 and slender, the inner one cleft, the outer one joined by half its joint to 

 the inner; hind toe with long straightish claw; plumage somewhat varie- 

 gated; moult double. 



The wagtail family is more developed in the Old World than in 

 America. The members are mediiim small in size, more or less gregarious 

 and migratory in habit; they are insectivorous and largely terrestrial, our 

 species being walkers like the larks to which they bear a decided resemblance 

 both in structure and habits. They differ from the larks, however, in 

 the structure of the bill, the tarsus and the double moult. Our American 

 species are boreal or arctic in distribution and are only birds of passage 

 in the eastern states, frequenting the bare shores, mud fiats and wide 

 plowed fields. 



