152 



SOMBRE WAGTAIL. 



This very distinct and striking species was excluded 

 by ScUegel and Bonaparte from the European list, the 

 former stating we had no proof of its existence in Europe. 

 The Rev. H. B. Tristram has however been kind enouQ-h 

 to draw my attention to some recent captures in Turkey 

 and the Crimea, which have confirmed the original notice 

 of this bird by Pallas, on the borders of the Black 

 Sea. 



This bird is very distinct from either M. Yarrellii, or 

 M. alba, and may probably be considered typical of the 

 pied races, 



I have been favoured with the following notes upon this 

 species, by Mr. Tristram:— "The bird figured by E,oux, 

 Orn. Prov., under this name, and also that described by 

 Temminck, in 1820, is merely the Motacilla Yarrellii 

 of Gould. Though Temminck corrected this error in 

 his edition of 1836, and suppressed all that he had for- 

 merly written on the subject, yet these authors have 

 been implicitly followed in their mistakes by almost all 

 subsequent writers. So much easier is it to perpetuate 

 error than to correct it. 



Bonaparte, who had in his catalogue included M. 

 liiguhris among the Birds of Europe, in his later work, 

 the "Conspectus," while acknowledging the specific 

 value of M. lugubris, excludes it from the Birds of 

 Europe, having only seen Japanese specimens. Pallas, 

 however, found it on the shores of the Black Sea, 

 and it has since been frequently obtained in Turkey. 

 Several specimens were sent home by officers engaged 

 in the Crimean war, which had been obtained near Se- 

 bastopol, some of which I have had the pleasure of 

 examining. It winters regularly in Egypt and Nubia, 

 which appear to be its western limits, and where it meets 

 the M. alba of Europe. Thus we find one form, M. 



