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MOTACIHilD^. 
INSESSOEES. MOTACILLIDM. 
DENTIROSTRES. 
PLATE LXXXIX. 
GREY-HEADED WAGTAIL. 
Motacilla flava, (^Linn.) 
This species, lately recognized as British in consequence 
of the occurrence of several specimens in various parts of the 
kingdom, is one of the most common wagtails of the Euro¬ 
pean Continent, namely, the Motacilla jlava of Linnaeus. For 
many years it has been strangely confused in England with a 
species common here, the yellow-wagtail of Ray, from which 
several important particulars sufficiently distinguish it in 
every state of plumage. 
The distribution of the Grey-headed Wagtail throughout 
Europe and Asia, is as widely extended as that of the white- 
wagtail, and, as a species, it is far more numerous than that 
or any other. It is found in summer as high as the Arctic 
Circle, and in many parts of Asia and Africa; in the central 
states of Europe it is innumerable, inhabiting all parts of 
Germany, except the most mountainous. It is abundant in 
the islands along the western coast of Denmark, and also of 
Norway; and plentiful in France and Holland. In all these 
countries it is a summer-visitor, arriving in the most southerly 
parts about the end of March, or beginning of April, and 
penetrating gradually northward. On their first arrival these 
birds associate with the white-wagtails, and roost with them 
among the reeds. Their favourite residence in spring is in 
