From the carpal joint to the end of the quill-feathers three
inches : the first three primaries nearly equal in length, and
the longest in the wing.
In winter the chin and throat are huffy white, without
any appearance of black ; the breast and belly greyish white,
tinged with yellow.
The colours of the female are at all seasons paler than
those of the male ; and the young bird of the year is like the
adult bird in winter.
The vignette below represents on the left hand the foot
and breast-bone of our Pied Wagtail, and on the right hand
the foot of Ray’s Wagtail.
INSESSORES. MOTACILLIDÆ.
d e n t i r o s t r e s .
TH E GREY-HEADED WAGTAIL.
Motacilla neglecta, Grey-headed Wagtail, Gould, Birds of, Europe, pt. in.
Blue ,, ,, J enyns, Brit. Vert. p. 116.
flava, Bergeronette printaniere, T emm. Man. d’Ormth. v. i. p. 260.
„ ,, ,> Supplt. p. 181.
Budytes ” „ » P . Musign. Comp. List. p. 18.
S in c e Mr. Gould first pointed out the distinctions between
the common Yellow Wagtail of this country, the
Motacilla flava of Ray, and one of the yellow Continental
Wagtails, which is the Motacilla flava of Linnæus, several
examples of this latter species have been killed in England,
and one or two in Scotland, it is therefore entitled to a place
in this work, and the attention of Ornithologists being drawn
to the subject, other examples will no doubt be obtained.
Mr. Gould very clearly proved what appears never to have
been even suspected before, that the M. flava of English
authors was not only a different bird from the M. flava of