MOTACILLA MEL AN OPE. 
611 
There is no constant appreciable difEerence in the plumage of the sexes in winter ; both have the back in some examples 
more olive than in others. 
Male, simmer j)lnmage (China, end of April). Lores, chin, and throat black, abruptly defined against the yellow of 
the fore neclj ; above the lores a whitish streak, narrowing as it passes over the eye, and widening again above 
the ear-coverts ; from beneath the eye a broader white streak passes beneath the cheeks to the ear-coverts ; chest, 
breast, and underparts bright sulphur-yellow ; head, hind neck, scapulars, and back ashy grey, with the rump, 
upper tail-coverts, wings, and tail as in winter. The supercilium is more developed in some birds than in others. 
A March example, with the throat changing to black, shows the colour down the centre of the throat and along the 
lower edge of what will eventually be the black gorget, which appears to be acquired by a change of feather. 
Female, summer plumage. Some birds do not assume the black throat; and in those which do “ it is not so well defined 
as in the males {Irhy). Ornithologists, as a rule, have not clearly described the plumage of the female, some 
omitting to make any mention of the throat, others (Maegillivray) saying that the throat “ becomes dark grey, 
mottled with yellovdsh gre}^ while others, again, describe the throat as white. Col. Irby, however, explains the 
matter from personal observation. A female which I have this season watched breeding in Wales had a white 
throat. A female from Lake Baikal, says Mr. Dresser, has the throat greyish white, with a few blackish feathers on 
the chin. It is probable that birds in the second year do not change the colour of the throat, while older ones do. 
Young. A nestling, just fledged, in the museum of Mr. Seebohm, is in the following plumage : — Head, neck, back, 
and scapulars brownish slate-grey, with a slight rusty tinge on the hind neck and scapulars ; orbital fringe and a 
postorbital stripe buff ; ear-coverts tinged with fulvous ; wing-coverts broadly edged with fulvous-grey ; secon- 
daries externally margined with whitish ; rump dusky greenish, but with a greyish tinge not present in the adult : 
longer upper tail-covert feathers yellowish ; the tail, which is only 1-7 inch long, has the three outer feathers all 
white, except a streak on the base of the outer web of the third, the remainder blackish, edged with white ; throat 
and fore neck greyish white, deepening on the chest and the upper part of the breast into rusty fulvous, washed 
slightly with greyish ; lower part of breast and belly whitish ; vent and under tail-coverts reddish grey, with the 
longer feathers of the latter part yellow. 
Mr. Dresser describes a young bird shot by himself near Baden as follows : — 
“ Upper parts grey with a slight greenish tinge, the rump greenish yellow, a yellowish-white streak passes over the 
eye, and under the eye there is an indistinct white mark ; wings and tail as in the adult, but the secondary coverts 
have greyish tips ; underparts greyish white with a primrose tinge ; lower tail-coverts pale yellow ; fore neck 
marked with greyish ; breast washed with pale reddish grey ; bill dark brown ; legs pale fleshy grey ; claws dark 
brown.” 
Immature male (Ceylon, January). Iris olive or light brown ; bill dark brown, base beneath whitish. Legs and feet 
fleshy brown. 
Hind neck, back, and scapulars ashy grey, pervaded somewhat with olive-brown on the back ; the forehead and crown 
greenish brown ; lores blackish ; superloral streak fulvous white, becoming whiter as it passes over the eye ; a 
yellowish-white patch just beneath the eye, encompassing the orbital fringe just above it ; vdngs as in the adult, 
as also the rump and upper tail-coverts ; ear-coverts dark grey ; chin and throat white, washed on the chin with 
yellow ; chest whitish, with a just perce'ptiUe rusty hue on it, and gradually becoming yellowish on the breast and 
flanks down to the abdomen and nnder tail-coverts, which are fine sulphur-vellow. 
Young birds visiting Ceylon are in the above or nearly similar plumage. Some of them have the chest yellower than 
others, but there is a tell-tale rusty appearance on it which stamps them with the signs of youth. 
A female (Asia Minor, Eebruary) corresponds with an October Ceylon example ; the yellow of the throat is slightly 
washed \vith fulvous, giving it a reddish appearance ; it is evidently a bird in the 2ud spring, shovdng that this 
immature chest-character is not put off until the 2nd year. 
Ohs. The "Westem or European form of Grey-and-Tellow Wagtail {M. sulphur ea of Bechstein) was formerly kept 
distinct from the Eastern or Asiatic race, the M. melaiiope of Pallas, on account of its longer tail; they have, 
however, of late years been united, and the species takes the older title of Pallas. The alleged difference consisted 
in the length of the tail, the European bird being said to measure more than the Asiatic. A widely-collected 
series has shown that the tail does decrease in length towards China and India ; but it likewise does so as we 
travel westward to the Azores, so that this character was found to be unstable, and the two races have rightly been 
made into one. The British examples which I have examined vary in the tail from 3’9 to 4'2 ; those from China 
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