CHAPTER XI. 
THE YELLOW WAGTAIL 
(Motacilla sulphured). 
“ The Wagtail flits with the Bearded Tits, 
Where the feathery reeds are growing; 
Or flirts its tail on the marsh mill-sail, 
His taste for insects showing.” 
Henry Stephenson. 
The Spaniards call the Common Wagtail the “ Washer¬ 
woman/’* but they call the Yellow Wagtail “Pepita,” to 
which indeed it has a right, the name denoting as it does, 
something exquisitely feminine and graceful, attributes 
decidedly possessed in the highest degree by this bird, 
and shown to greater perfection in its colouring and 
habits than with the common species. 
The Yellow Wagtail is easily distinguishable from the 
allied species by its long, narrow tail, which gives the 
bird a slight and elegant appearance: it is ash-gray 
above and sulphur-yellow below; the three outermost tail- 
feathers are mostly white. In the spring the throat of 
the male is black. This description is sufficient to 
identify the bird by. 
This bird inhabits all the mountains of Europe, as 
well as a portion of those of Southern Asia, besides 
* In some parts of England, especially in Kent, it is called “Peggy Dish¬ 
washer.”— W. J. 
