. The sportsman's British bird book . breeding-range includes, however, mostother parts of England as well as the southof Scotland, but in Ireland the species is verylocal, nesting only round Lough Neagh inUlster, and Loughs Carrib and Mask inConnaught. The haunts of this wagtail are chieflylow meadows, and on arrival, flats by theseashore, where these canary-like birds con-gregate in flocks, before breaking up intopairs for the breeding-season. At the con-clusion of the latter, they again collect in companies, and often roost inreed-beds. The four to six eggs, which are very variable in
. The sportsman's British bird book . breeding-range includes, however, mostother parts of England as well as the southof Scotland, but in Ireland the species is verylocal, nesting only round Lough Neagh inUlster, and Loughs Carrib and Mask inConnaught. The haunts of this wagtail are chieflylow meadows, and on arrival, flats by theseashore, where these canary-like birds con-gregate in flocks, before breaking up intopairs for the breeding-season. At the con-clusion of the latter, they again collect in companies, and often roost inreed-beds. The four to six eggs, which are very variable in colour,being sometimes uniformly olive-brown, in other cases pinkish brown,and in yet others mottled, are laid in a nest of rootlets or dry grass,carefully concealed in a hole in the grass, or sheltered by a stone, oreven occasionally placed on a bank. If it be permissible to regard the yellow wagtail in the light of alocal race of the blue-headed species, the former should be known asM. flava rail and the latter as M. fiava YELLOW WAGTAIL (FKMALE). 538 PERCHING BIRDS Blue-headed ^^ already mentioned, the blue-headed wagtail isWag-tail very closely related to the last, of which, indeed, it (Motacilla flava). ^^y be only the eastern and typical form. Inbreeding-plumage the cock may, however, be dis-tinguished by the bluish-grey crown of the head and nape, white eye-stripe, and dark grey ear-coverts ; the rest of the upper surface of thehead and neck, as well as the back, being greenish olive tinged withyellow ; the wing-coverts and quills are dark brown, the former andthe inner secondaries having yellowish-white edges : with the excep-tion of the three middle pairs, which are black, the tail-feathersare mostly white, as are the sides of the face and throat, the rest of the under - partsbeing hen is not dullerin colouring, but rathersmaller in size, measur-ing just over 6 in placeof 6^ inches in autumn the yellowof the lower surfacebecomes m
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Keywords: ., bookauthorlydekkerrichard184919, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900
