WAGTAIL. 325 



pale streak ; sides of the head ash-colour ; chin and throat black ; 

 upper tail coverts and the whole of the under parts of the body 

 yellow ; under tail coverts deep yellow ; wing coverts brown, edged 

 with ash-colour; quills brown; secondaries brown, with a white 

 base, and almost as long as the greater quills ; tail three inches and 

 three quarters at least; the outer feather white; the next has the 

 inside and tip white, the outside blackish ; the third nearly the same, 

 but with the inner edge black ; the others black, with greenish 

 edges. Male and female differ only in brightness of colour. 



The above is the state of winter plumage; about the beginning 

 of March some spots of black are seen on the throat and chin, which 

 increase till those parts are wholly black, except the tips of the 

 feathers, which, 3 are slightly edged with white.* It was formerly 

 supposed, that the female differed from the male, in wanting the 

 black on the throat, but this circumstance is now found to be erro- 

 neous, as both sexes are without any black on the throat until 

 February, when the black first breaks out, and in a month none are 

 to be found without it ; but in the female this is less conspicuous : 

 these birds retain this characteristic mark during the breeding season, 

 after which it disappears ; " at this season, the breast and belly of 

 " the male become of a bright yellow, and the other sex is also 

 " brighter in those parts than in the winter; and each has a white 

 " streak from the base of the bill, passing down the neck on the edge 

 " of the black."f 



This is a constant resident in Great Britain, but shifts its quarters, 

 according to the season ; it first appears in the more Southern part of 

 the Kingdom, the beginning of October, and remains till about April, 

 frequenting watery places and small streams, for the sake of insects, 

 on which it feeds. That it breeds in the more Northern parts we are 

 well assured, but not nearer than Cumberland, where it appears first 

 in April, and departs in October; J makes the nest on the ground, 



* Orn. Diet. f Id. + It quits Scotland in winter.— Tour in Scotland, 1769. 



p. 192. Said to be found about Ashburton, in Devonshire, at all seasons. — Ornith. Diet. 



