Wacrair. PASSERES. MOTACILLA. 209 
and, upon the top of the trunk of an old pollard tree. ‘The Nest, &c. 
nest is composed of moss, fibres of root and grass, intermixed 
with wool, and lined with hair; in which it lays four or five 
eggs, of a greyish-white, speckled with light hair-brown, and 
inferior in size to those of the next species. ‘They resemble 
so nearly the egg of the cuckoo, as to induce her frequently 
to select the nest of this bird for the purposes I have before 
detailed. 
The flight of the wagtail is interrupted, and performed by Flight. 
jerks ; whilst on wing its call is very frequently repeated. In 
autumn, previous to the departure of these birds to more — 
southern counties, they collect in small flocks, and haunt the 
pasture-lands near the streams, or pools of water. 
Puate 49. Fig. 1. Male bird in summer-plumage, and of 
the natural size. 
Forehead, cheeks, sides of the neck, belly, and vent white. General 
Crown of the head, nape of the neck, throat, breast, up- poe 
per parts of the body, and middle tail feathers black. 
Lesser wing-coverts black ; the greater ones bordered 
with white. Quills edged with greyish-white. The two” 
outer tail-feathers white. 
In autumn and winter the black upon the throat and 
breast gives place to pure white, and. the upper parts 
also incline to blackish-grey; rendering the male bird, 
at this season of the year, scarcely distinguishable from 
the female. 
~ Grey Waetail—Motacilla Boarula, Linn. 
PLATE 49. Fig. 2. 
_Motacilla Boarula, Linn. Syst. p. 527.—Gmel. Syst. 1. p. 997. sp. 5.—Lath. 
Ind. Ornith. 2. p. 502. 4. 
Motacilla melanopa, Gmel. Syst. 997.—Lath. Ind. Ornith. v. 2. 503. sp. 5. 
eeiacie cinerea, an flava altera Aldrov., Raii, Syn. p. 75. 3.—Will. p. 172. 
oO 
