15:2 
S():\1I}RK WAGTAIL. 
This very distinct and striking species was excluded 
by Sclilegel and BonapaVte from the European list, the 
former stating we had no proof of its existence in Europe. 
The Rev. H. B. Tristram has however been kind enough 
to draw my attention to some recent captures in Turkey 
and the Crimea, which have confirmed the original notice 
of this bird by Pallas, on the borders of the Black 
Sea. 
This bird is very distinct from either 31. yarrellii or 
31. alba, and may probably be considered typical of the 
pied races. 
I have been favoured with the following notes upon this 
species, by Mr. Tristram: — “The bird figdred by Roux, 
Orn. Prov., under this name, and also that described by 
Temminck, in 1820, is merely the 3Iotacilla yarrellii 
of Gould. Though Temminck corrected this error in 
his edition of 1836, and suppressed all that he had for- 
merly written on the subject, yet these authors have 
been implicitly followed in their mistakes by almost all 
subsequent writers. So much easier is it to perpetuate 
error than to correct it. 
Bonaparte, who had in his catalogue included 31. 
luyuhris among the Birds of Europe, in his later work, 
the “Conspectus,” while acknowledging the specific 
value of 31. Ivyuhris, excludes it from the Birds of 
Europe, having only seen Japanese specimens. Pallas, 
however, found it on the shores of the Black Sea, 
and it has since been frequently obtained in Turkey. 
Several specimens were sent home by officers engaged 
in the Crimean war, which had been obtained near 
Sebastopol, some of Avhich I have had the pleasure of 
examining. It winters regularly in Egypt and Nubia, 
winch appear to be its western limits, and where it meets 
the J/. alba of Europe. Thus we find one form, 31. 
