Birds of Celebes: Motacillidae. 
533 
In its nestling plumage the black horse -shoe hf M. flava recalls the winter 
plumage of the throat of M. alba and lugubi'is; also to some extent the plumage of 
Otocm-ys and others. 
Eggs. 4, 5, sometimes 6; duly white, closely marbled and clouded with clay-brown, yellowish 
buff or grejlsh: size 19.5 X 15 mm (Dresser VIII). 
Nest. Of fine rootlets, grass, straw, bents, sometimes intermixed with moss; placed on the 
gi’ound (Dresser VIII]. 
Distribution. In summer almost the whole of Europe; in winter Africa almost to the Cape 
(Meyer & Helm a 5); Asia Minor (Eobson XI)\ Transcaspia (Eadde a 4)\ Persia 
(Blanf. VIII)', S. E. Siberia (Dybows. and Grodlews. a 7, Schrenck a 7); Kam- 
tschatka(Dybows. A7, a 7); Commodore Is. fa7)', Alaska (Dali & Bannister F/7/, a7)', 
Kiu-ile Islands (18)', Mongolia (David a 2); China (Styan 20, De La Touche 21); 
India — eastern part (Oates etc. a 3, 79); Bm-mah (Oates a 3); Andamans and Nicobars 
(19)', Malacca (Cantor A7;; Sumatra (Buxton b 5, Modigl. a d); Hatuna Is. 
^Everett 22); Java (Horsf. XI, Vorderman bll)', Bali (Doherty 27); Flores 
(Wallace b 10, A7); Timor (Wallace b 10, A7); Borneo (Mottley etc. b 10, XI, 
15)', Philippiires — Palawan (Whitehead 15, 16, Platen 15), Luzon (Kittl. b 3, 
Conrad 7, Everett b 6), Bohol and Mindanao (Ev. b 7, b 9), Negros (B. & W. 23); 
Talaut Is. — Kabruang (Nat. Coll, b IS); Celebes — North (Meyer b 2, b 8, 
Bruijn b 4, Faber and v. Musschenbr. in Dresd. Mus., P. & F. Sarasin 25 ), — 
South (Wallace XI, Meyer b 8, Platen in Dresden Mus., Weber d 1, etc.), — 
East (Nat. Coll. 26); Saleyer and Kalao (Everett 27); Halmahera, Ternate, Tidore, 
Burn, Ceram, Amboina (Salvad. b 10, Sharjre XI). 
Motacilla borealis (Sundev.), the M. viridis of many authors, is distinguished 
by Dr. Sharpe from the p)rcsent species by the absence, or almost complete 
absence, of the white or pale superciliary stripe and by its black ear-covmrts. 
The two forms have very similar geographical ranges, but there appears to he 
no evidence that M. borealis has ever occurred in the East Indies, w'hereas the 
white-eyebrowed M. flava has a wide distribution there in winter and often 
occurs in Borneo in particular, as shown by Whitehead (14), in great abun- 
dance. 
M. flava again differs in the eastern and western parts of its range. Com- 
pared with specimens killed in Saxony, the nine Celebesian examples before us 
distinguish themselves by their much longer hind claw: viz. 11 — 14 mm as 
against 9 mm, a difference already ascertained to exist between European examples 
and a Celebes one by Prof. W- Blasius (h 12) and later confirmed by Mr. J. 
Biittikofer, who appears to us to misapply the name borealis, just as other 
authors have misapplied — or rather have variously employed — the name 
viridis, which, as Dr. Sharpe shows (Cat. B., X, 522), may well be rejected. 
Mr. Brooks (Str. F. 1878, VII, 139) again affirms that Indian specimens 
of M. flava differ from European ones, the head of the latter being darker and 
the cheeks less mixed with white; this form is allowed by Dr. Sharpe to rank 
as a valid subspecies, M. beema Sykes, its range being “Western and Central 
Siberia, wintering in Afghanistan and in India”, but both flava and borealis occur 
in India as well. 
