MOTACILLA. 
§4 
male, with the ufual exception, namely, that her colours 
are fainter, efpecially the yellow on the throat. Inhabits 
the Auteniqnois foreft, but not plentiful. 
40. Motacilla trichias, the orange-thighed warbler: 
olive, beneath white ; head with a tran'fverfe white bar ; 
thighs and vent orange. Inhabits Louiliana : five inches 
and a half long ; tail rounded: 
41. Motacilla ruficauda, the rufous-tailed ,wafb]er': 
length five inches and a quarter : upper parts, as far as 
the rump, brown, tinged with rufous on the back; vving- 
coverts and tail rufous ; quills margined with rufous ; 
throat white, 1'urrounded with pale rufous, dotted with 
brown ; breaft light brown ; the reft of the under parts 
white, with a rufous tinge on the under tail-coverts. 
Native of Cayenne. 
41. Motacilla fufcicollis, the brown-throated warbler: 
fize of the yellow wren : bill broadened, and flat at the 
bafe; upper parts of the head and body greenifli brown ; 
throat the fame; wing-coverts'and quills brown, mar¬ 
gined with pale rufous, thofe of the tail greenifh ; breaft 
and belly yellow, with a fulvous tinge. Native of Ca¬ 
yenne. 
43. Motacilla ccerulefcens, the blue-grey warbler : very 
fmall, meafuring in length only four inches and a half: 
the plumage on the upper parts is cinereous blue ; throat 
black; and reft of the under parts white. Native of St. 
Domingo. , 
44. Motacilla Americana, the American warbler : bill 
pale ; head, hind part of the neck, back, and tail, cine¬ 
reous blue; between the flioulders olive yellow; throat 
and breaft yellow ; belly white ; tips of the wing-coverts 
the fame, forming a bar ; end of the tail very pale ; legs 
pale brown. Native of America. 
45. Motacilla penfilis, the Penfile warbler : length five 
inches: bill dufky; head greyifh black; over the eye, a 
ftreak of white : between the bill and eye, a range of 
yellow dots; wing-coverts white and black, in bands; 
quills bordered with grey; throat, neck, and breaft, yel¬ 
low; fides of the neck marked with black fpots; belly 
white; fides dotted with black; tail and quills dark grfcy, 
and the four outer feathers marked with large fpots of 
white; legs grey. This beautiful little bird inhabits 
St. Domingo, and fome of the Weft-India iflands, where 
it feeds chiefly on infefts and fruits; and has a very deli¬ 
cate fong, which is continued throughout the year. “ The 
fagacity difplayed by this bird,” lays Mr. Bingiey, “ in 
building and placing its neft, is truly remarkable. She 
does not fix it at the forking of the branches, as is ufual 
with molt other birds, but fufpends it to binders hanging 
from the netting, which flte forms from tree to tree, 
efpecially thofe which fall from branches that hang over 
the rivers and deep ravines. The neft confifts of dry 
blades of grafs, the ribs of leaves, and exceedingly fmall 
roots, interwoven with the greateft art; it isfaftened on, 
or rather it is worked into, the pendent firings. It is in 
faff a fmall bed rolled into a ball, fo thick and compaffed 
as to exclude the rain ; and it rocks in the wind without 
receiving any harm. But the elements are not the only 
enemies againfi which this bird has to ftruggle; with 
wonderful fagacity it provides for the protection of its 
neft from other accidents. The opening is not made on 
the top or fide of the neft, but at the bottom : nor is the 
entrance direff. After the bird has made its way into 
the veftibule, it mull pafs over a kind of partition, and 
through another aperture, before it afeends into the abode 
of its family. This lodgment is round and foft, being 
lined with a fpecies of lichen, which grows on trees, or 
with the filky down of plants.” The eggs are three or 
four in number; but the bird hatches more than once in 
■ the year; for young ones have been obferved in June; 
again in March ; and a third time at the end of Auguft, 
or beginning of September. 
46. Motacilla alba, the white water-wagtail : length 
feven inches, of which the tail is one half: bill black; 
irides hazel > hind part of the head, and nape of the neck, 
a 
black; forehead, round the eyes, and fides of the neck, 
white; chin, fore part of the neck, and breaft, black; 
upper parts of the body, wing-coverts, and rump, cinere¬ 
ous; greater wing-ccverts, and fecondary quills, dulky, 
edged with grey ; greater quills blackifh ; lower parts of 
the breaft and belly white; the four middle tail-feathers 
are black, edged with grey ; the others are white, except 
at the bafe, and tips of the inner webs, which are dufky; 
legs black. In the female the top of the head inclines to 
brown. Some individuals have only a crefcent of black 
on the breaft, the chin and throat being quite white. 
Tiiefe birds frequent watery places, feeding on flies, 
gnats, and-other infers. They make their neft on the 
ground, compofed of dry grafs, fine fibres of roots, and 
mofs, lined with hair or feathers. The eggs are five in 
number, white, fpotted with brown ; they have only one 
brood in a year. It is a fpecies very far fpread, being 
found throughout the whole of the old continent. It is 
migratory; with us it ihifts its quarters .to the fouth, as 
the winter approaches. In Scotland, and in the north of 
England, they ace fcarcely ever Teen- in the hard weather. 
But in the fpring and furiimer months there is not a 
brook purling along between the green confinement of 
two flowery hedges, not a rivulet winding through the 
green meadow, not a river pacing acrofs the country, 
which is not frequented by this Well-coloured and ele- 
gantly-ftiaped little creature. We even fee him often in 
the fireets of country-towns, following, with a quick 
pace, the half-drowned fly or moth which the canal ftream 
carries away. Next to the robin-red-breaft and the fpar- 
row, they come neareft to our habitations. Thus the 
wagtails are much in motion; feldom perch, and per¬ 
petually flirt their long and ftender tail, principally after 
picking up fome food from the ground, as if that tail 
were a kind of lever or counterpoife, ufed to reftore the 
body to its equilibrium upon the legs. They are obferved 
to frequent, in France, thofe ftreams where women come 
to walk their linen ; probably not ignorant that the foap, 
whofe froth floats upon the water, attrafts thofe infeifts 
which are molt acceptable to them. From that circum- 
ftance they are called lavaudieres, “ wafherwomen,” by the 
French ornith'ologifts. 
47. Motacilla albida, the whitifh wagtail : whitifh ; 
back, wing-coverts, and tail, pale alh; bill and legs pur- 
plilh. This is marked by Gmelin as a doubtful fpecies, 
and is probably only a variety of the preceding. We 
have alfo another variety to notice. 
Cinereous; breaft black; frontlet, chin, cheeks, an 
oblique band on the wings, and the two outmoft tail- 
feathers, white. 
48. Motacilla Maderafpatenfis, the Madras wagtail: 
bill, head, neck, breaft, and upper parts of the body, 
black : under parts white ; an oblique band of white cfrois 
the wings; middle tail-feathers black; outer ones white. 
Native of Madras. 
49. Motacilla cinerea, the cinereous wagtail: length 
fix inches three quarters: bill brown; upper parts of the 
head, neck, and body, cinereous grey; the under white; 
acrofs the breaft a brownifh band; wing-coverts and fe- 
condaries blackifh, edged with white; greater quills 
blackilh brown; tail dulky black, margined with white; 
legs brown. The female wants the band on the breaft. 
We have not this bird in England, though authors 
talk of it as common on the continent, where it is fre¬ 
quently feen in the fummer-months in numbers, in the 
paftures among cattle ; retiring to the ftreams when the 
flies become fcarce. Part of thefe only are fuppofed to 
migrate. It differs from ours in conftructing the neft, 
which it does on fome low willow near the ground, and 
hatches twice in the year. 
50. Motacilla boarula, the grey wagtail: length feven 
inches and a half: bill brown; upper parts greenifh afh- 
colour; over the eye a pale ftreak; fides of the head alh- 
colour; chin and throat black; upper tail-coverts, and 
under parts of the body, yellow ; under tail-coverts 
deeper 
