220 
MOTACILLID-E. 
tire length of this specimen was six and a half inches. 
The wing, from the cai-pus to the tip, is three inches; and 
the tail extends beyond it one inch and three quarters. 
The first three quill-feathers are of equal length, and the 
longest tertial exceeds them by about a line; the beak 
is five and a half lines from the forehead to the tip, very 
slender and slightly bearded; the tarsus measures ten lines, 
the middle toe nine lines ; the claw of the hinder toe is 
long and nearly straight, measiu’ing five lines. 
The young birds of the year, in autumn, differ greatly 
from the adult. Their upper parts are strongly tinged with 
olive-brown. The chin is nearly white, the eye-streak 
rufous-white, the breast darker rufous, or ochre-yellow, and 
the underparts very pale and dirty yellowish-white. The 
wings and tail as in the adult. 
This species is the Motacilla Jiava of our countryman 
Ray, who first described it, but not the M. Jiava of the 
Continent. 
The nest of the Yellow Wagtail is usually built upon 
the ground, sometimes placed a little above it in an osier 
stump, or similar elevation. It is found in various locali¬ 
ties, in open situations of meadow or moorland, and we 
have also met with it in islands upon the Thames occu¬ 
pied as osier grounds, in which places the species appears 
to abound. The nest is constructed of fine dry grass and 
fibrous roots, lined with the hair of horses and cows. One 
of our specimens is composed almost entirely of green 
moss, with a few tufts of grass outside, and one or two 
long horsehairs within. The eggs are usually of a long, 
oval form, about eight lines and a half long: the ground 
colour greenish-white, thickly freckled over with ash-grey 
and pale rufous-brown. Some specimens are nearly plain 
rich ochre, slightly marbled ; such are usually smaller in size. 
The egg figured 87 is that of the Yellow Wagtail of Ray. 
