TllK BOHEMIAN WAXWING. 
81 
wliicli fell into my hands was shot by Mr Thomas Edmondston, 
jun., at Halligarth, on the 29th of October 1866, a year which 
will long be remembered by British ornithologists for the 
enormous numbers of these handsome birds which appeared 
at its close. The bird in question was a female, and although 
observed at the rowan-berries on the previous afternoon, it was 
too shy to afford an opportunity for near approach. For two 
days previously the weather had been very rough, with repeated 
thunder-storms from the south-west. I have observed nothing 
with regard to the habits of the Waxwing which is not already 
thoroughly well known and described. 
^ VII. MOTAGILLIDM 
THE PIED WAGTAIL. 
Motacilla Yarrellii. 
Soon after expressing his belief that the Pied Wagtail bred 
in Shetland,^ Thomas Edmondston found good reason to alter 
it, although still leaving uncorrected the statement that the 
bird left in autumn. I once saw one, apparently a straggler, 
near Scalloway, in the month of J une, but could find no nest, 
although the locality appeared very suitable for it. It appears 
in small flocks or parties during the month of September, 
usually with stormy weather from a southerly quarter ; but it 
seldom remains long, and is scarcely ever seen in winter. 
This bird appears in Dr L. Edmondston’s list under the name 
of “ White Wagtail perhaps correctly, if Mr Gray’s suspicion 
that the Pied Wagtail “is but a local race” of the White 
should be ultimately confirmed. Certainly my own experience, 
derived from the examination of a very large number of speci- 
mens in various states, strongly tends to support this view. 
Mr Harting,-(* quoting Mr William Borrer, gives the main 
points of distinction between the two species, or varieties, 
* Zoologist, 1844, p. 461. t Birds of Middlesex, p. 63. 
F 
