BTJDYTES VIEIDIS. 
(THE GEEY-HEADED EIELD-WAGTAIL.) 
Motacilla viridis, Gm. Syst. Nat. p. 962, “ex Brown,” Ceylon (1788) ; Dresser, B. of Europe, 
pt. 40 (1875); SevertzofF in Dresser’s Notes, Ibis, 1876, p. 178; Seebohm, Ibis, 1878, 
p. 352. 
Budytes cinereocapilla. Bp. Comp. List B. p. 19 (1838); Swinhoe, P, Z. S. 1871, p. 364; 
Hume, Str. Feath. 1874, p. 237 ; Oates, ibid. 1876, p. 142; Davison & Hume, Birds 
of Tenass., Str. Feath. 1878, p. 363; Ball, Str. Feath, 1878, vii, p. 219; Cripps, t. c. p. 286. 
Budytes viridis (Gm.), Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 138 (1849) ; Kelaart, Prodromus, Cat. 
p. 121 (1852); Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1853, xii. p. 268; Horsf. & Moore, 
Cat. B. Mus. E. I. Co. i. p. 360 (1854) ; Jerdon, B. of Ind. ii. p. 222 (1863) ; Blyth, 
Ibis, 1865, p. 50 ; Holdsw. P. Z. S. 1872, p. 458 ; Shelley, B. of Egypt, p. 129 (1872) ; 
Legge, Ibis, 1874, p. 22, et 1875, p. 398 ; Tweeddale, Ibis, 1877, p. 228. 
La Bergeronnette verte, or Qreen Wagtail, Brown, 111. Zool. pi. 39. fig. 2 ; Bergeronnette d tete 
cendrde, French ; Wagtail Larh, Latham. Pilkya, Hind. ; Pastro marillo, Portuguese 
in Ceylon. 
Adult nude and female. Length 6-5 to 7-0 inches ; wing 3-1 to 3-3 ; tail 3-0 to 3-1 ; tarsus 0-9 ; middle toe and claw 
0’8 ; hind toe 0-4, claw (straight) 0-45 ; bill to gape 0-65. 
Iris dark brown ; bill blackish, base of lower mandible whitish or greenish grey ; legs and feet blackish ; soles yellow. 
Male, summer plumage (Futtehgur, 28th April). Forehead, cro^-n, occiput, nape, and sides of the neck, just lower 
down than the ear-coverts, uniform sombre bluish grey ; lores, cheeks, and ear-coverts black, over the left lore a 
white streak, not extending to the eyebrows, above and behind the right eye another short white streak ; hind neck, 
back, scapulars, lesser wing-coverts, rump, and ujiper tail-coverts brownish olive-green, sharply defined against the 
blue neck ; the centres of the upper tail-covert feathers brownish : wings umber-brown ; the median and greater 
secondary wing-coverts and the tertials broadly edged with pale yellowish ; the primary-coverts and the primaries 
with fine pale edgings ; inner webs of the secondaries white at the base : tail brownish black, the outer feather all 
white but the inner half of the inner web, which is brown to within j an inch of the tip ; the adjacent pair wth 
their inner webs the same, and the outer brown to within ^ an inch of the tip; the dark central feathers edged 
with olive-yellowish; entire under surface from the chin to the under tail-cover! s deep yellow, brightest on the 
lower parts ; extreme point of chin white ; thighs bi’ownish yellow, under wing-coverts yellowish. 
A female has the head not so blue, and a broader yellow eye-stripe. 
Male, luinter plumage (Ceylon, 29th November). Above dusky olive, greenest on the rump and upper tail-coverts, 
and pervaded with slate-colour on the hind neck, and slightly brownish on the back ; lores and cheeks dark brown ; a 
moderately-defined narrow supercilium, longer over one eye than the other ; wing-coverts, secondaries, and tertials 
edged with whitish, tinged on the tertial margins with yellowish ; tail as above ; chin and throat white, washed 
with yellow on the fore neck ; the under surface pale yellow, not nearly so rich as in summer ; chest washed at 
the sides with brownish. 
Other examples have the head browner, and some the back more olive or the opposite (that is, browner) ; some want 
the eye-stripe altogether ; in one it is present on one side and not on the other ; in fact scarcely any two 
examp)les are perfectly alike. 
A male in change (Colombo, 17th April) has the forehead dusky olive, and the head partly bluish slate, these new 
feathers appearing among the old greener ones ; the back is dusky olive-green, being clothed still with the winter 
feathers ; wing-coverts and secondaries margined with yellowish white ; cheeks and lores changing to blackish ; 
a narrow supercilium, which is evidently disappearing from the moulting of the old feathers ; chin and throat 
whitish ; under surface pure yellow, with a few whitish feathers down the centre of the breast, the remains of the 
winter plumage. 
4k 
