THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



154 



and beech mast. On the chalk we get the 

 little Bedford blue (P. alsus) .while Corydon is 

 more plentiful. Flying in the evening round 

 the low bushes we met an emerald (P. Cyti- 

 saria), a couple of blood veins (T. amataria) 

 are settled on the blossoms of a tall plant 

 growing by the hedge side, and a single 

 specimen of L. quadra is found on the grass. 

 The extremely variable July highflyer (X. 

 elutata) is frequently met with in the even- 

 ing, and the small waved umber (P. vital- 

 lata) feeds on the wild clematis or traveller's 

 joy (C. vitalba), which covers the tops of the 

 hedges, its luxuriant beard being white in 

 the winter months. There are, no doubt, 

 many other very interesting objects to be 

 met with by a diligent search in this district. 

 The greatest prize I have met with was a 

 solitary specimen of the Manylined (P. poly- 

 gvammata or conjunctavia), which I did not 

 find out to be a good insect until years 

 after it was taken, when having kept all the 

 Oxfordshire insects together I was able to 

 distinguish the very place it came from. 

 With proper evening collecting and sugar- 

 ing on this ground much more could be 

 done, and I should imagine from the great 

 variety of the foliage and herbage that the 

 Cherry Country will be found very prolific 

 in Entomological objects. 



BRITISH BIRDS. 

 THEIR NESTS AND EGGS. 



By S. L. Mosley. 



59. RAY'S WAGTAIL or YELLOW 

 WAGTAIL. 

 Motacilla Raii, Bonapt. 

 Rail — In honour of Ray. 

 Size. — Length, 6\ in. ; expanse, io\ in. 

 Plumage. — The adult male in summer 

 has the bill nearly black. Eyes very dark 

 brown. Top of head, ear coverts, back of 



neck, and the whole of the back, yellowish 

 olive-green, darkest on the back. The tail 

 has the two outer feathers white on the 

 outer, and part of the inner web ; the rest 

 nearly black. Wing coverts and secondaries 

 dark brown, broadly edged with yellowish 

 white ; primaries dark brown. A streak 

 over the eye and the whole of the under 

 parts bright gamboge yellow. Legs and 

 toes black. 



The Female has the back more of a 

 brown colour, and the yellow parts are not 

 so bright. 



Both sexes in winter loose most of the 

 yellow tints, and the under parts become 

 yellowish drab, nearly white in some places. 



Immature Birds of the year are the same 

 as the adults in winter, but have an indis- 

 tinct darker band across the breast. 



Varieties. — The only variety I have 

 seen of this species is in the rich collection 

 belonging to Mr. J. Whitaker, F.Z.S., of 

 Rainworth Lodge, Notts. The parts usually 

 dark are very pale drab, the under parts 

 and tail nearly white. It was obtained from 

 the late Dr. Hobson's collection (fig, 2.) 

 Occasionally very old birds have head, 

 neck, and the whole of the upper parts 

 bright yellow. 



This species is considered by some as a 

 form of the grey-headed Wagtail (M. flava) 

 of the Continent. 



Note. — The call consists of two dis- 

 tinct notes, a higher a and lower one, more 

 shrill than that of the pied species. 



Flight. — The flight consists of the 

 same undulatory motions which characterize 

 the whole of the Wagtails, and the same 

 vertical motion and expansion of the tail is 

 performed when the bird first alights. 



Migration.-— This is a true migratory 

 species, arriving in this country at the end 

 of March or the first half of April, and 

 leaving again for the south early in Sep- 

 tember. 



