156 
BIRDS OF BRITISH BURMAH. 
seems unnecessary to say much regarding the habits of this common 
bird. 
There are several species of Black-backed Wagtails. M. maderaspatensis, 
found in India^ may be recognized by its large size and by its having the 
forehead black at all seasons. M. japonica, from China and Japan, may 
be known by its secondaries being nearly entirely white. Two other 
species have the secondaries nearly all grey; but M. luguhris, the European 
bird, has the cheeks and ear-coverts white, whereas M, hodgsoni, the 
Himalayan bird, has them black. One or more of them is likely to occur 
in Burmah, 
151. MOTACILLA ALBA. 
THE GREY-BACKED WAGTAIL. 
Motacilla alba, Linn. Sysi. Nat. i. p. 331 ; Dresser, Birds Europe, iii. p. 238, pi. ; 
Wardlaw Ramsay, Ibis, 1877, p. 463 ; Seebohm, Ibis, 1878, p. 344 ; Hume, S. F. 
viii. p. 103 ; Scully, S. F. viii. p. 314. Motacilla dukhunensis, Syhes, P. Z. S. 
1832, p. 91 ; Sivinh. F. Z. S. 1870, p. 130 j Brooks, S. F. ii. p. 457 ; Wald.inBl. 
B. Burm. p. 97 ; Hume Sf Dav. S. F. vi. pp. 362, 518 ; Brooks, S. F. vii. p. 137 ; 
Hume, S. F. viii. p. 103. Motacilla baicalensis, Sivinh. P. Z. S. 1871, p. 363 ; 
David et Oust. Ois. Chine, p. 301. 
Description. — Male and female in breeding -plumage. Forehead, front of 
head, sides of the face and of the neck white ; crown of head, nape, chin, 
throat and breast deep black ; upper plumage a clear grey inclining to 
dusky on the upper tail-coverts ; lower plumage white j the four central 
pairs of tail-feathers black narrowly margined with white ; the next pair 
white with a broad streak of black on the inner web and a narrower one 
on the outer ; the outer pair white with a narrow streak of black on the 
edge of the inner web ; wings brown, the tertiaries and all the coverts 
margined with white. 
In winter the crown of the head is unicolorous with the back, or mottled 
grey and black ; the white forehead becomes greyish and the chin and 
throat turn white. 
The young are coloured like the adult in winter plumage, but the white 
of the head is tinged with yellow. 
The dimensions and the colours of the soft parts are similar to those of 
M. leucopsis. 
The females lose the black on the crown of the head immediately after 
breeding, but the males retain it longer, and some few of them throughout 
the winter. The pectoral patch of black is much more extensive than in 
M. leucopsis, traces of the black of the throat being generally visible on 
the sides at all periods of the winter. The grey of the upper plumage is 
