148 BLACK-HEADED YELLOW WAGTAIL. 



colour from M. jlateola, (our YcUoav Wagtail,) up to 

 the present bird, and lie has sent me specimens wliich 

 bear out this opinion. It is, in fact, very probable 

 that all the European Yellow Wagtails are permanent 

 varieties or races of the same type. Mr. Tristram 

 writes, "I have obtained M. flaveola, (Ray's Wagtail,) 

 in Morocco, where it is certainly the general, if not 

 the only variety. In Spain and Portugal I have got 

 it, and not M. fima, and I presume that on the 

 Atlantic coast M. fiaveola is the commonest form. In 

 Algeria M. Jlava is almost universal, but I have twice 

 shot M. flaveola in its passage in the Bay of Algiers. 

 At Tunis, and further east, I have only found M. Jlava 

 and M. cinereo-capilla. At Pyles (Navarino,) I got 

 M. melanocephala, which is also very common at Athens, 

 where I saw no other. In Palestine I got M. melano- 

 cepliala only, but I saw at Jerusalem, in Dr. Rotte's 

 room, a skin of M. jlava. Thus it appears to me that 

 the varieties glide into one another, the Mack on the 

 head increasing in intensity as toe go eastwards.'^ 



These are very interesting remarks, and clearly lean 

 towards the very strong inference that these birds have 

 a common origin. Count Milhle has taken the opposite 

 view, and gives the following as his reasons. He says 

 in the first place, that in Greece the plumage of M. 

 jlava is the same as with us, that it never mixes with 

 Mela7wcephcda, and that, while the former is found in 

 the districts of Lavadien, Malo, and Lamia, the latter 

 occurs in the Morea; and that, where 31. Java is 

 found, there also shall we meet with M. alba, but never 

 M. melanocephala. He further remarks that M. melan- 

 ocephala goes away early with Ilerops apiastcr and 

 Mnberiza ccesia, while 31. jlaca may be found in 

 winter, and that among hundreds of specimens of 



