145 



remain over winter in the warmer districts, and in Persia it breeds on the plateau in larger 

 numbers than M. alia. 



In its breeding-habits the Masked "Wagtail is said to assimilate closely with the common 

 European Pied Wagtail. 



Major Wardlaw Ramsay (Ibis, 1880, p. 60), who met with it in Afghanistan, where it was, 

 he says, " abundant and breeding throughout May and June," found, on the 5th June, a nest 

 in the root of a tree which was lying in the dry bed of a stream and which contained five newly- 

 hatched young birds, and on returning to the nest on the 28th of the same month the young- 

 had flown, and a second laying of three eggs was in the nest, and he found a fourth egg in the 

 female which he shot. Another nest was placed in a recess under a large stone near the edge of 

 the water. 



In the ' Catalogue of Birds in the British Museum,' vol. x., Dr. Sharpe has subdivided the 

 Wagtails to a larger extent than I am inclined to do. Thus he subdivides Motacilla alba into 

 Motacilla alba and M. baicalensis, in which I agree with him, as the latter may always be 

 separated from M. alba in having more white on the crown and the chin (and in some specimens 

 the upper part of the throat also) pure white, besides which it has considerably more white on 

 the wing. On the other hand, I cannot, as above stated, agree with him in recognizing M. persica 

 (op. tit. x. p. 479, pi. v. figs. 5, 6) as a good species, for, so far as I can judge, it is merely an 

 intermixture of M. personata and M. alba. With this exception, however, I fully agree with 

 Dr. Sharpe's views so far as the black and white Wagtails are concerned. 



The specimens figured are an adult male in spring plumage from Turkestan, and in the 

 background an adult male in winter dress from Etawah, both of which, as well as the birds 

 described, are in my own collection. 



In the preparation of the above article . I have examined, besides the series in the British 

 Museum, the following specimens : — 



E Mus. II. E. Dresser. 



a,<$. Askabad, February 17th (Dr. G. Radde). b, $ . Turkestan, March 9th, 1886; c, $. Chimkent, 

 February 11th, 1866 (Severtzoff). d, $,e, $. Nija-Darja, Eastern Turkestan, March 1890 (Pevtzoff). 

 f, $. Etawah, N.W. India, January 19th, 1870; g, ? . Etawah, December 17th, 1869 (W. E. Brooks). 



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