CA LOBAT E S S U L P H U B E A
CALOBATES SULPHURE V.
Grey Wagtail.
Molticitta boarula, Penn. Brit. ZooL, vol. i. p. 492.
— melanops, Pall. Zoogr. Uo*s.-Asiat.f tom. i. p. f»#0.
_______cinerea, Leach, Syst. Cat. of Indig. Mama» and Bird* in Hu
■—— sulphurea, Beehst. Naturg. Deutschl.. tom. iii. p. 45*,
moniium, Brelmi, Vög. Deutsch!* p. 345.
Budytes loarula, Eyton, Hist, of Rarer Brit. Birds, p. 15.
Calobates sulphurea, Kaup, Natiirl. Syst.', p. 33.
PalUnura sulphurea et javensis, Bonap. Consp. Gen, A v., twa. t. p-
E x t r em e elegance of form, gracefulness o f action, and a paMX&I ifcspasitiiKl- < wMpfilB’
of Wagtail a favourite with every one who has bestow«! a
him in our islands. I t has neither the comparatively coarse t& f n m ***
nor the bright-yellow colouring o f the Budgies, lu c «W r a «Vow the awsw*«*'» m
genera, and also in its more delicately formed bill, in its s n ip e r hr«*, us «*- M ¡m*, iP
the possession o f a far more ample tail. Like the MotaaUtr vv » vahjeei to » mmnrnm
confined to the throat, which becomes black in summer and forms a a x v s f tctnntmW disttagntehmg ww»»* m
the bird a t that season. The differences indicated above have induced ornithologists to consider
Wagtail to be entitled to rank as a separate g en u s; and I consider Professor Kaup was justified m propwinx
a generic name for it, that o f Calobates, which I have therefore adopted. The wide area over which the ivsrd
ranges, also, favours the idea o f its being a very distinct form from the other Wagtails, most, if not a«, of
which are very limited in the extent o f their range. The ornithologist who has collected generally, or
studied the birds o f the world, instead o f a single country, will have learned that it not only inhabits
the British islands, from the Highlands o f Scotland to the Land’s End, but is equally numerous in
all parts o f Europe, from north to south, and is even found beyond the Mediterranean and Bkwk Sea.
He will have noticed examples in every, collection from India, in whatever part <A that ..twntry ti asm
have been found, and have remarked that it also occurs in Malasia, Java. China, and «
Specimens from all these countries are before me while writing my account of the specie«,
point, however, I naturally ask myself, Is this the extent o f the bird’s range over the globe ? 1» <r found
in Australia or any o f the Polynesian Islands? and my experience answers, No, we have w» evdem*
th at it is. Does it form a part o f the avifauna o f the American continent, either on its eastern side, m * m
opposes Europe, o r on the north-western, which is contiguous to China and Japan ? This I agaw m » m
in the negative. Why it should not, I am unable to say, any more than I can tell my rtmtor*
why the Budytes Jtava is common a t Boulogne and Calais and rarely, if ever, found at FoUwwto
Dover—or why the Motacllla Yarrelli should be confined to the British Islands, while die M. tdbtt (H
Continent is almost excluded. These are some o f the inexplicable laws o f nature which we shall probnbi)
never understand. North America, like Europe, has its rocky trout-streams and gurgling nils o f water,
accompanied by all the conditions favourable to the salmon, the trout, aud the char, and other physical
features precisely the same as those in which the Grey W agtail loves to d w e l ly e t neither that species nor
any member o f its family has yet been seen in any part of the New World. The absence o f these beautiful
tripping birds from a country now so thickly peopled with Europeans must often cause a pang o f regret to
those who look to surrounding objects in their newly adopted homes. But the distribution of our Grey
Wagtail need not be further dwelt upon, except as regards our immediate home—the British Islands. With
us in the south the bird is much less frequently seen in its summer black-throated garb than in the months
of winter, when the throat is greyish-white, and the whole under-surface more uniform. In snramer it is
away breeding in the lake-districts o f England, the Grampians and other parts o f the Highlands, the rugged
portion o f Derbyshire, the gullies formed by the high tors o f Devon and Cornwall; rarely is it found elsewhere
at this season. But as there is usually an exception to every rule, 1 may mention that a few pairs
sometimes remain in the neighbourhood o f London and breed on the banks o f our trout-streauis, as it is
wont to do in the localities above mentioned. In one lovely valley in Buckinghamshire, through which runs
the river Chess, I have for many years seen this bird breeding; and one o f the greatest pleasures I ever
experienced was the meeting o f my favourite face to face each succeeding summer, when the Duke of
Bedford kindly favoured me with a day’s fly-fishing a t Chenies. These little birds generally occupied t e
same site for their nest—a hole in a wall, occasioned by the removal or falling out o f the end o f a brick in