608 
MOTACILLA MADEEASPATEKSIS. 
Female in breeding-plumage has the distribution of the colours the same, but the black of the upper surface less 
pure. 
Nonhreeding-plwmage. The chin and face just beneath the eye and the gorge are white ; upper surface not so intense 
a black as the breeding-dress. An example shot by Mr. Adam at the Sambhur Lake in August is in this plumage ; 
it must have bred early in the year and changed at once. 
Obi. This Wagtail, which carries off the palm as regards size among all the pied group, resembles somewhat the 
common Water- Wagtail of England, M. lugubris, in summer plumage, the latter differing in the large amount of 
white which encompasses the forehead, whole face, and ear-coverts, and the less intense black of the upper surface, 
with a proportionate paleness of the wing. It is a much smaller bird, the wings of those I have examined 
varying from 3'3 to 3'6 inches. 
In most species of this group the forehead is white. The black forehead in the Indian species has a parallel in the 
fine African Wagtail, M. vidua, in which also the colour of the crown extends down in a point to the base of 
the bill. 
Distribution. — This, the largest of the four Indian Wagtails, appears to he only a straggler to Ceylon in 
the cool season, there having been but one example recorded in the island. This is mentioned by Layard 
{toe. cit.) , who remarks that he detected a single specimen in a collection of birds formed by Mr. Glisburne, C.C.S., 
in the Jaffna peninsula, the exact locality from which it came being supposed to be the island of Valenny. 
It may perhaps be a regular visitant to the extreme north of the island ; but this is, I think, doubtful, as if 
so it would have been otherwise recorded from districts south of the J affna Lake. 
This Wagtail has a wide but local distribution throughout India. It is found in suitable localities in 
various parts of the peninsula, and in both the east and west of continental India. It occurs in the south, for 
Jerdon remarks : — “ It is found throughout the whole of India . . . but it does not appear to extend to the 
east of the Lay of Bengal. It also occurs within the Himalayas, for I found it at Sikhim.’^ Messrs. Davison 
and Carter record it from the Nilghiris and the Cauvery river. “ In the Deccan it is common and breeds ” 
{Davidson ) ; and Dr. Fairbank writes that it affects the rivers in the Khandala and Mahableshwar districts, 
ilr. Aitken writes of it at Poona, and the Eev. H. Bruce at Ahmednuggur. Mr. Ball, on the eastern side of 
the peninsula, records it from “ Sambalpur, north of Mahanadi, Godaveri valley, Singhbhum, Loliardugga, 
Maunbhum, and the Ilajmehal hills,” and he considers it, with regard to the whole division of Chota Nagpur, 
to be one of the birds most commoidy met with on its rivers. Captain Beavan found it rare in Singhblmm, 
only meeting wuth it on the Cossye river. Across the Central-Indian districts it is noted from various places, 
such as Agra, Etawah, Futteghur, the great river-system of this well-watered portion of India affording it 
abundant localities suitable to its tastes. From Sambhur Mr. Adam records it common about all the open 
wells and tanks ; but at Mount Aboo it is, according to Capt. Butler, not very plentiful ; he observed it there 
about the lake, and occasionally in the plains round the edges of tanks, river-beds, &c. It is a resident 
species in the sub- Himalayan region. Mr. Brooks records it from Mussouri, and says that he also obtained it 
in Cashmere, while beyond the great Himalayan range it w’as found breeding by Severtzoff in Turkestan. 
Habits , — This fine species is essentially a water ATagtail, being rarely found away from water, and 
frequents the banks of rivers, ponds, tanks, wells, brooks, &c. I observe that it is said, like other members 
of its group, to have a partiality for that seemingly eccentric situation the roof of a house, on which it often 
perches when opportunity offers ; and I have no doubt that, like its congeners, it wnuld also seat itself on a 
telegraph-wire. Captain Butler, who noticed its habits at Mount Aboo, remarks that “ it delights in a large 
rock standing out by itself in the water at some distance from the shore to settle and run about upon. In 
the absence of a rock, an old stump suits its habits and answers the purpose equally wnll.” It is very active in 
its motions and possesses all the grace of deportment w'hich so remarkably distinguishes the wdiole of this 
interesting group of birds. It feeds on insects, at which it darts, adroitly seizing them, and has been observed 
to catch as large prey as a dragonfly wuth which to feed its young. Jerdon states that it has a swnet song 
in the breeding-season. 
