*r 



m 



BUDYTES CITREOLOIDES, Hodgs. 



Yellow-headed Wag-tail. 



Budytes citreoloides, Hodgs. in Gray's Zool. Misc., 1844, p. 83. 



- calcaratus, Hodgs. Asiat. Res., vol. xix. p. 19o'?-Gray, Cat. of Spec, and Draw, of Mamm. and Birds 

 presented to Brit. Mus. by B. H. Hodgson, Esq., p. 76 ? 

 — citreola, Jerd. Madras Journ. of Lit. and Sci., vol. xi. p. 9.-Sykes in Proc. of Comm. of Sci. and Corr of 

 Zool. Soc, part ii. p. 90.-Blyth, Journ. of Asiat. Soc. Beng., vol. xvi. p. 429.-M. Cat. of Birds in 

 Mns. Asiat. Soc. Calcutta, P .138.-Bonap. Consp. Gen. Av., p. 280, Budytes, sp. 6.-Horsf. and Moore, 

 Cat. of. Birds m Mus. East-Ind. Comp. vol. ii. p. 352.-Jerd. Birds of India, vol. ii. pt. i. p. 225, and 

 vol. n. pt. ii. p. 873.— Adams in Proc. of Zool. Soc, pt. xxvi. 1858, p. 486. 



Motacilla citreola, Gould, Birds of Europe, vol. ii. pi. 144. 



Zurcha, Cabul (Blyth). 



m 



3 



m 

 v 



Dr. von Middendorf has ventured an opinion that the bird I have figured on the 144th Plate of my 

 'Birds of Europe' as the female of Budytes citreola is different from that described by Pallas under the 

 name of Motacilla citreola. I regret to say that, as there are no Russian specimens in this country, I am 

 unable to institute a comparison and determine whether this be really the case or not. Mr. Jerdon, in his 

 recently published « Birds of India,' has treated the Indian bird as identical with the Siberian, but, in a note 

 at the end of the concluding volume, says, the former, " writes Mr. Blyth, is distinct from Budytes citreola 

 vera, and will stand as B. citreoloides, Hodgs." If this be the true state of the case, I was in error in 

 employing the specific term citreola for the birds represented in the ' Birds of Europe,' my figures having 

 been taken from Indian examples. 



The Plate which I now publish contains a correct representation of two fully adult birds, in summer 

 plumage, which were killed on the peninsula of India, and for which I have retained Mr. Hodgson's name 

 of B. citreoloides. I may remark that all the specimens from India with bright yellow heads do not at 

 the same time possess such jet-black backs as shown in the lower figure in my Plate : this latter hue 

 seems to be seasonal, and is doubtless characteristic of the male in the nuptial dress ; for I have specimens 

 with rich-yellow heads in which the back is grey, while in others it is partly grey and partly black. Little 

 has been recorded respecting the habits and economy of this beautiful bird. Col. Sykes informs us that it 

 has the habits, manners, aspect, and size of B. melanocephala, and that, like that species, it is solitary, and 

 only found in the vicinity of rivers ; but he never saw the two birds in company. Larvae of insects and 

 greenish mud were found in the stomachs of those he examined. He believes that this species, together 

 with B. melanocephala and B. Beema, all possessing the long hind claw, do not habitually perch, but, like 

 other birds furnished with a similar claw, nocturnate on the ground. 



"This migratory species," says Mr. Jerdon, " which is remarkable for the great length of its hind claw, 

 is found over all parts of India, during the cold weather. It is not very abundant, and is never found in 

 dry places, like the Budytes viridis, but on the banks of rivers and lakes, and more particularly in swampy 

 ground or in inundated rice-fields, apparently affecting concealment more than the other species of this 

 group. It has been seen in its breeding-plumage at Mussooree, and is then a very beautiful bird." 



Dr. Leith Adams observes that this bird is common in the Deccan, Punjab, and Scinde, and is equally 

 numerous in marshes and wet situations in the Valley of Cashmere, and in all similar places in Ladakh. 



In the full breeding-plumage, the head, neck, breast, and under surface is rich yellow, with a wash of 

 olivaceous on the flanks ; back jet-black ; wings dull black ; the primaries edged with grey, and the tertiaries 

 margined with white ; wing-coverts black, broadly tipped with white, forming two bands across the wing ; 

 under tail-coverts yellowish white ; tail black, with the outermost feathers on each side white, excepting 

 a portion of their inner web and the extreme base of the outer ; bill and feet black ; irides brown. 



The female has the head, and those parts which are black in the male, of a dark grey hue, a stripe of 

 yellow over the eye, and the white margins to the wing-feathers less defined. 



Young birds have the upper surface brownish grey; under surface dingy white, with a tinge of yellow in 

 some specimens, and a gorget of dusky spots ; less white on the wing ; and a streak above the eye, forehead, 

 chin, and ear-coverts yellow. 



The Plate represents the two sexes, of the size of life. 



58 



IMHI 



