LIMONIDROMUS INDICUS.
Variegated Wagtail.
Motacilla indica, Gmel. Edit. Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 962.—Lath. Gen. Hist., vol. vi. p. 334—Gray and Mitch.
Gen. of Birds, vol. i. p. 203.—Layard in Ann. and Mag. of Nat. Hist., 2nd ser. vol. xii. p. 268.
Nemoricola indica, Blyth, Journ. Asiat. Soc. Beng., vol. xvi. p. 429.—Id. Cat. of Birds in Mus. Asiat. Soc. Calcutta,
p. 136.—Id. Fam. Motacillidte, p. 4.—Jerd. in Madras Journ. of Lit. and Sci., vol. xiii. p. 132.—Bonap.
Consp. Gen. Av., tom. i. p. 251.—Horsf. and Moore, Cat. of Birds in Mus. East Ind. Comp., vol. i.
p. 353. ^
Motacilla variegata, Vieill. Ency. Metli., Om„ p. 408.—Jerd. in Madras Journ. of Lit. and Sci., vol. xi. p. 10.
Nget Rahat of the Arracanese (Blyth).
Gomarita (“ Dungspreader ”) , Ceylon, Layard.
Rode-Rode, Malay (Blyth).
I t has always appeared to me that a close affinity exists between the Yellow Wagtails, forming the genus
Budytes, and the Titlarks, genus A nthus; and this impression is strengthened by the existence of the
bird forming the subject of the present memoir, the affinity of which, it must however be admitted, leans to
the side of Budytes rather than to that of Anthus. I have been constrained to propose a new generic name
for this singular little bird, that of Nemoricola (assigned to it by Mr. Blyth) having been previously employed
by Mr. Hodgson for a very different group of birds.
Of this form only one species has yet been discovered. That it ranges rather widely over India and the
islands, is evident from the following notes by Mr. Blyth and Mr. Layard. Mr. Blyth states that the sexes
are alike in colouring, in which respect it offers an alliance to the Pipits, and differs from the Yellow
Wagtails.
“ This species,” says Mr. Blyth, “ appears to be common along the whole eastern coast of the Bay of
Bengal, from Arakan to the Malayan Peninsula and also Sumatra, where it was observed by the late
Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles. In Lower Bengal it is not r a r e ; but it would seem to be scarce in the
Peninsula o f India, where Mr. Jerdon had never personally met with it at the time he wrote his excellent and
useful Catalogue of the birds of that part of the country. In the vicinity of C alcutta I have procured it at
all seasons: it inhabits groves and gardens, mango-topes, and the neighbourhood of bambo-clumps, feeding
on the ground, and perching much like the Tree Pipits. I do not remember to have seen it from the
Himalayas, nor from any part of the Upper Provinces of Hindustan; and I am not aware that it has any
proper song.”
“ In Ceylon,” says Mr. Layard, “ this elegant little bird is met with in shady places where cattle have
been. It scratches among the ordure, in search of the larvae of insects; hence its native name. It is
migratory in its habits.”
The following is Mr. Blyth’s description o f this species :—
“ Above, greenish olive-brown ; below, white o r yellowish white, tinged with brown on the flanks; a whitish
supercilium, and a black gorget across the upper part of the breast, giving out a mesial black line below; a
second.and imperfect black gorget on the lower part of the breast, united laterally upwards with the first,
and in front not continued to the middle so as to meet the mesial line given off by the first; wings blackish,
marked with two broad whitish bands formed by the tips of the coverts, a third at the base of the primaries,
and a fourth near the tips o f the secondaries and continued along the edge of the longest tertia ry ; medial
tail-feathers brown, the next dusky, the outermost white, with generally a brown outer margin and black
base extending nearly half the length of the inner web, and the penultimate with white only on its terminal
half; bill dusky above, the lower mandible whitish; legs whitish, tinged with purplish brown; the toes
darker.
“ Sexes alike, and no seasonal difference of colouring.”
The figures are of the natural size.