216 
MOTACILLID.E. 
form, the shell thin and not mueh polished, measuring about 
eight lines by six and a half; they are yellowish stone colour 
in the ground, equally sprinkled over the whole surface with 
pale rufous-brown and ash-grey spots. Some specimens, as 
the one figured in the Plate, are nearly plain yellowish-brown, 
sometimes approaching to cream-white. 
The Grey Wagtail has an extensive range over the Euro¬ 
pean and Asiatic continents, being found as far as Japan, and 
the isles of Sumatra and Java. It inhabits also Switzerland, 
Italy, and Spain, and is found, according to Mr. Drummond, 
in the island of Corfu in winter, but is considered rare. 
The entire length of this species is seven inches five lines. 
The wing, from the carpus to the tip, measures three inches, 
and the tail extends two inches and a half beyond the tips of 
the folded wings. The tarsi measure nine lines, and the 
expanse of the foot is one inch and one line. The feet are 
small in proportion to the size of the bird, and the hinder 
claw measures only two lines, very little exceeding that of 
the middle toe. The beak is rather long and slender, mea¬ 
suring five lines from the forehead to the tip, and eight lines 
from the tip to the gape. The tail-feathers are of equal 
length; the tertials are very long and pointed, and the largest 
passes beyond the tips of the quill-feathers when the wing 
is closed ; the three first quill-feathers are nearly equal in 
length. 
The plumage of the adult male in summer is as follows :— 
the forehead, crown of the head, nape, ear-coverts, back, and 
scapulars, fine bluish-grey ; a streak of darker grey com¬ 
mences at the base of the beak, and passes through the eye 
towards the nape, and a white streak passes above and below 
it. The chin and throat are intense black, bounded on the 
exterior edge by a band of white, which commences at the 
base of the lower mandible, and extends nearly to the middle 
of the breast. The rest of the under parts, together with the 
