much less rich in colour, the back being tinged with darker
brown, and the lower surface of the body of a less brilliant
yellow. Young birds of the year, and the parents after the
moult, which immediately succeeds the breeding-season, resemble
each other considerably; the olivaceous band observed
in some across the breast, is, possibly, a sign of youth, and
probably remains till the first spring change.
Having frequently examined specimens of our Wagtails in
the spring of the year, when they were assuming either the
change of colour, or the additional brilliancy of tint, peculiar
to the breeding-season, without finding any new feathers in
progress, I am induced to consider the vernal change in these
birds as so many instances of alteration effected in the colour
of the old feathers, and not a change of the feathers themselves;
but, as has been stated before (page 547), this
opinion must be considered to be still open to doubt.
^ As regards the trivial name to be properly applied to this
bird authorities have differed much. In 1834, Blytli (Mag.
Nat. Hist. vii. p. 342) suggested that Budytes flavissima was
better than B. flava (as in those days it was called), but not
in such a way as to allow the former to be adopted. In
1835, an anonymous writer cited it (Analyst, iii. p. 31) as
B . verna, Cuv.; but Cuvier is not known to have bestowed
an} such name upon it, and if he had we may be sure that
he did not discriminate between it and the true Motacilla
flava, of which therefore B. verna would be a synonym,
while an author who does not give his own name is not
justified in giving one to what he deems a species. In 1840,
Temminck described it (Man. d’Orn. iii. p. 183) as M.
flaveola, Gould, an assumption just as gross; for Mr. Gould
never so called it, while Pallas years before (Zoogr. Ross.-
As. i. p. 501) had a M. flaveola which is certainly not the
piesent bird, any more than is his M. campestris—though
this last has been supposed by some to be our Yellow Wagtail.
I t accordingly follows that Bonaparte’s Motacilla or
Budytes rail—that being the ancient way of spelling this
last word, is the name which should be used.
P A S SE RES. M OTA CILLIDyE.
A n t h u s t r iv ia l is (Linmeus*).
THE TREE-PIPIT.
Anthus arboreus\.
A n t h u s , Bechstein +.—Bill slender, subulate, nearly straight, very slightly
notched at the t i p ; the mandibles nearly equal in length and their edges slightly
compressed inwards. Nostrils basal, lateral, oval and partly concealed by a
membrane. Wings moderate, the first primary acuminate and nearly abortive,
the second, third and fourth nearly equal, and one of them the longest; fifth in
some species almost as long; secondaries short, the tertials very long, the longest
about equal to the fifth primary or occasionally longer than any. Tail of twelve
feathers, moderate and slightly forked. Tarsus scutellated in front, about as
long as the middle toe, which is joined to the outer toe at its base; toes rather
long; claws moderate, except that of the hind toe which in some species is very
much elongated.
* Alauda trivialis, Linmeus, Syst. Nat. Ed. 12, i. p. 288 (1766).
f Bechstein, Gremeinniitzige Naturgeschichte Deutschlands. Ed. 2, iii. p. 706
(1807).
J Tom. cit. p. 704.
VOL. I. 4 D
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