150 
BLACK-HEADED YELLOW WAGTAIL. 
deprives tliem of tlieir usual gentle cliaracter Ly declaring 
that they are “farouches et sauvages.” 
The same author tells us they feed on flies, gnats, 
moths, and beetles, both in the perfect and larva state; 
that they nest on the ground, or in a hush on the 
borders of flelds and plains. The nest is made of blades 
of dry grass, small roots, and moss, lined inside with 
fine grass or wmol. They lay from four to six eggs. 
The adult in breeding plumage has the cheeks, top 
of the head, nape, and upper tail feathers deep black; 
back olive green, but not so dark as in the preceding 
variety; a beautiful yellow, or, as Degland has well 
expressed it, d’un heau jaune jonquille, below; the crop 
and part of the flanks more or less shaded with olive 
green. Wing coverts olive green, bordered with grey; 
primaries and secondaries hair brown, the latter broadly 
bordered with grey, outer tail feathers white, the inner 
web black at basal half; beak, feet, and iris, brown. 
In the young, according to Degland, the upper parts 
are olive grey, with the nape ashy and the head 
blackish, darker in front, and above the eyes and ears; 
yellowish below, with the throat whitish. 
31. feldeggii is a transitional variety between this 
and the last noticed. 
My figures of the bird and its egg are taken from 
specimens kindly sent me by the Rev. H. B. Tristram. 
It is also figured by Bonaparte, in Fauna Italica, 
pi. 31, fig. 2; Gould, B. of E.; Rlippell, Atlas Reise 
Afric, pi. 33; Dubois, Oiseaux de la Belgique, pt. 48, 
pi. 94, male and female. 
