/ 
80 M O T A 
fig. i. The female is fomething lefs; (he has no collar, 
nor does the male alTume this diftindtion till his fecond 
moult. The male and female are always found together. 
The warble of the male is very agreeable, efpecially in 
the warm feafon. They begin to pair in November, and 
their eggs are found at the beginning of December. They 
builduheir nefts in thickets, or among herbs and humble 
plants; the eggs, ufually fix, are reddilh white. 
This bird, like the European pettichaps, is one of thofe 
to whom the cuckoo confides the care of bringing up her 
young. Near the end of December, Vaiilant found a 
young cuckoo, as big as a blackbird, in one of thefe nefts ; 
it filled up the whole neft, nay, it had even ftretched and 
fpciled the lliape of it. “ I was furprifed,” fays that cu¬ 
rious obferver, “ to fee with what attention thofe little 
birds fed this enormous glutton, whofe head was always 
out of the neft, its mouth wide open, and ever craving. 
Six days after I firft faw it, it took flight, having quite 
broken the neft to pieces to get out; it fixed its abode 
upon a mimofa-tree, where its fofter father and mother 
went regularly to feed it.” The black-breaft is common 
from the Elephant River to the tropic; rare towards the 
Cape; but more plentiful from lat. 28. to the tropic, efpe¬ 
cially on the borders of the Great or Orange River; found 
all'o in Caft'raria, but not common. 
22. Motacilla ruficapa, the red-headed pettichaps. This 
lias the manners of the preceding, inhabiting and nefting 
among low flirubs and plants. The neft is conftrudted of 
hairy ftalks and mofs, and a warm lining of the fame kind 
of hair and feathers. Eggs from four to fix, white, with 
very fmall vinous fpots. Inhabits the Camdeboo coun¬ 
try; more rarely among the Caffres and Namaquois. It 
is about the fize of the babbler, M. curucca. The top 
of the head is of a red-brown or tan-colour; the tail is 
1'quare, or ftraight, and the wings hardly cover the rump. 
The upper furface of the body is brownifh-grey; the 
under parts cinereous, whiter on the belly. The eyes are 
red-brown ; legs and feet yellowifh. The female is rather 
fmaller; but has not the head redder than the reft of 
the body. 
23. Motacilla viridis, the olive-green pettichaps : length 
of the male four inches and one-eighth, of the female 
four inches. Vaiilant met with a Angle pair of this fpe- 
cies when encamped at Pampoen-kraal, in his voyage 
through Africa. The male, he fays, came night and 
morning, and cheered his folitude with a moft melodious 
fong, perching on the top of the hut, not at all daunted 
at the fight of the people. (The female was equally fa¬ 
miliar, hopping in every corner of the hut, about the 
tents, and among the cattle, in fearch of food.) His fong 
was the more grateful to our traveller, as the rainy feafon 
was begun, and no other bird was heard in the country. 
Vaiilant, however, took the liberty to flioot this kind 
mufician and his lady, and carried them off when he 
moved his tents, very unwillingly, as he fays ; but, as he 
could find no more of that fpecies in the neighbourhood, 
he would not leave his collection incomplete. 
The tail is very fhort, and the wings reach almoft to 
the end of it; fo that the fpecies is diftinguilhed by a 
fhort and ftunted make. All the upper furface is of a 
beautiful yellowifh-green. The under part of the tail is 
whitifh; and the inner part of the wing-quills are light 
black. All the under parts are white; the eyes are light 
brown; bill greyifh ; legs and feet pale yellow. In the 
female, the green colour is more (lightly (haded with 
yellow: and the white of the under parts is not fo 
pure, but takes an olive tint. It is probably a bird of 
paflage in the Auteniquois country, where Vaiilant met 
with it; fo that nothing is known of its nefting or in¬ 
cubation. 
24. Motacilla grifea, the grey pettichaps. This fpecies 
is very numerous on the borders of the river Gaus, Goud, 
(Gold,) or Gaurits; and thence to the Brake Rivier, or 
River Saumatre, but not beyond. Thefe birds live in 
fociety; they are very brilk, and full of motion; little 
C I L L A. 
flocks, from eight to twelve in number, are met with con¬ 
tinually on the mimofa-trees, running along the branches 
inceffantly, feeking for infedts, and the larvae and eggs 
of butterflies, in the chinks of the bark and under tiie 
leaves; thefe are their chief food. While thus foraging, 
they emit a faint warble, which might eaiily be miftaken 
for that of the long-tailed titmoufe when hopping from 
tree to tree. Vaiilant does not defcribe their neft, or 
manner of incubation, not having been in that part of 
the country in the pairing-feafon : but he fuppofes the 
fmall flocks he met with to have been each one complete 
family. Hence it appears probable that each female lays 
eight or ten eggs, or perhaps more. The bill and legs of 
this fpecies are blackilh. The whole upper furface of the 
body, with the great and fmall wing-coverts, and the 
outer barbs of their quills, are (late-colour. The throat 
is prettily fpotted with black on a cinereous ground; 
the under parts of the body are moftly cinereous; but 
the lower belly and under tail-coverts are dark red. The 
lateral tail-quills are moftly white outwardly; the mid¬ 
quills are black, as are the interior barbs of the wing- 
quills. The eyes are greenifti grey. This is (hown on 
the Plate, at fig. 2. The female is exadtly fimilar to the 
male in colour; but, contrary to the ordinary rule in 
birds of this genus, (he is nearly one-fourth larger. 
Vaiilant alio met with a beautiful variety of the fame, 
with the greateft part of the plumage, efpecially the wings 
and tail, entirely white; but the lower belly and vent 
red. See fig. 3. 
25. Motacilla rufa, the rufous warbler: about four 
inches three-quarters in length: bill grey brown; upper 
parts of the body rufous grey; under parts pale rufous; 
on each fide of the head a longitudinal ltreak of the fame 
beneath the eyes; quills rufous grey, edged with pale 
rufous; tail the fame ; legs brown. This bird is not leen 
in England; but in France and Germany it frequents 
gardens, making its neft in fome low bu(h or plant, lined 
with hair. It lays five eggs, which are of a greenifli white, 
fpotted with brown. 
26. Motacilla ciliata, the double-browed warbler: a 
black brow over each eye, and a fimilar one underneath. 
The top of the head is red, like the M. rufa; but this 
has a long tapering tail, and is about the fize of the long¬ 
tailed African warbler; the upper plumage is red-brown ; 
the under parts white, inclining to reddilh on the flanks 
and under the tail. The female is fmaller; has not the 
double eyebrow, which belongs exclufively to the male; 
the top of the head is not fo ftrong a red ; in other re- 
fpedts there is no difference. This feems to be a rare 
fpecies, inhabiting the country of Karow in Africa. Its 
nefting is not known, nor even whether it breeds in that 
diftridt or not. 
27. Motacilla falicaria, the fedge-warbler: fize of the 
blackcap, but more (lender: bill black; head brown, 
marked with dulky ftreaks; cheeks brown ; over each eye 
a white line, and above that a black one; upper parts of 
the neck and back reddilh-brown, marked with black; 
wing-coverts and quills dulky, the firft edged with pale 
brown; the under parts are white, but the bread and 
belly have a yellow tinge ; tail brown ; legs du(ky. This 
bird is common in England, and frequents places where 
reeds and fedges grow, among which it fometimes makes 
its neft, and fometimes on the loweft branches of trees 
or bulhes. The neft is compofed of draw and dried fibres 
of plants, lined with hair: the eggs five in number, of a 
dirty white, marbled with brown. It is obferved to imi¬ 
tate the note of the (wallow, (kylark, houfe-lparrow, and 
other birds, in a pleafing but hurrying manner; and lings 
all night. Whether it leaves us in the winter is not 
afcertained. 
28. Motacilla (ylvia, the white-throat: length about 
five inches and a half: bill black, at the bale whitifh ; 
irides chefnut; head brownilh alh-colour; the back red¬ 
dilh ; fmaller wing-coverts pale brown ; the greater brown 
with reddilh margins; throat white; bread and belly red¬ 
dilh 
