GREY WAGTAIL.
BRITH V FUCHB6 EELKN, OF THE ANCIENT BRITISH.
WINTER WAGTAIL. YELLOW WAGTAIL.
Moiacilla sulphuna, BECHSTEIN.
MotacUla cinerta, RAY.
Motacilla boa/u/a, PENNANT. MONTAGU.
MotacUla nulanopa, GMELIN.
MotacUla—A Wagtail. Sulphurta—Sulphureous—sulphur-coloured.
THIS is one of the most elegant of our native birds, and on this
account, as well as for its comparative infrcquency, 'always a welcome
guest.'
It is a perennial denizen of the southern part of Europe, being
found in Switzerland, Italy, France, and Spain; also in Madeira. It
likewise inhabits Java, Sumatra, Japan, and other parts o f India.
I n this country it is generally diffused, being found all over England,
Ireland, and Scotland, though rarely in the extreme north. It is unknown
in the outer Hebrides. In the Orkney Islands it is occasionally
seen in the summer.
The sides of little streams, rivers, lakes, and ponds, are more
peculiarly affected by this species, and, as akin to such, the ditches by
the sides of lanes, flooded fields, and water meadows, pools, stagnant
water, and reed-grown tracts.
The Grey Wagtail is said to migrate southwards in the winter, and
northwards in the spring, the former movement being made in
September, and the latter in April; but some certainly do not leave
Yorkshire, for I have seen them here this winter, a pair on the 5th.
of the present J a n u a r y , 1852; and another a month ago in very
severe weather; about Edinburgh also a few are seen in the winter.
Some in like manner remain in the south in the summer. They breed,
James Dalton, Esq., of Worcester College, Oxford, informs me, about