WHITE WAGTAIL. 
225 
Entire length, seven inches and a quarter. The wing, from 
the carpus to the tip, measures three inches one line; and 
the tail two inches eleven lines, two inches of which extend 
beyond the tips of the folded wings. The beak measures 
four lines and a half from the forehead to the tip, it is very 
slender, and strongly notched ; the nostrils are oval. The 
first, second, and third quill-feathers are nearly equal in 
length, the second rather exceeding the rest. The tarsi mea¬ 
sure ten lines, the middle toe nine: the legs and feet are 
small and slender, and the claws very sharp. 
In adult summer-plumage the male of this species has the 
forehead, cheeks, sides of the neck, and under plumage, pure 
white; the crown of the head and nape black; the throat is 
also black, but the black of this part is isolated, and does not 
at any period unite with the black of the head and nape; the 
back and scapulars are pale ash-colour. The eight central 
feathers of the tail are black, as well as the upper coverts of 
the same : the under tail-coverts are pure white. The quill- 
feathers of the wing are black, narrowly edged with white; 
the tertials and coverts of the wing the same, with broader 
white edges. The sides of the breast and flanks ash-grey ; 
the iris, beak, and legs, are black. The female differs only 
in the tints of her plumage, which are less clear and full. 
In winter-plumage the throat becomes white, and only a 
crescent of black is left upon the breast. The corners of this 
crescent are not so far extended as in our common pied 
species, and never unite with the black of the nape; the grey 
of the upper parts is paler in colour. 
The young birds have the same plumage as the immature 
of the pied-wagtail, and complete their perfect feathering by 
undergoing similar changes. 
