MOTACILLID.E. 
■wing are nearly equal in length. The beak is almost six 
lines in length from the forehead, strong, and rather stout. 
The adult male in summer has the head, nape, and ear- 
coverts, bluish-grey, and a narrow line of a darker tint pro¬ 
ceeds from the eye to the beak. Above the eye, and below 
the ear-coverts, pass two narrow white lines, proceeding from 
the bases of the upper and lower mandible. The back, sca¬ 
pulars, and upper tail-coverts, are pure olive; the tail-feathers 
dusky, except the two outer on each side, which are white ; 
the wings are dusky, with broad yellowish-white borders upon 
the secondaries, tertials, and wing-coverts. In autumn the 
under parts of the body are paler in colour. 
The female in summer has nearly the same distribution of 
colours as the male, but they are less pure and full. In 
autumn the grey head of the female is clouded with olive, 
and the throat inclining to buff; in this state it is represent¬ 
ed in the upper figure of Plate 89 ; and the male in full 
adult summer-plumage is represented in the lower figure. 
The young male of the year is much like the adult female in 
autumn. 
