. The sportsman's British bird book . 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-
. The sportsman's British bird book . 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 more birds differ fromhens in that the greyof the head is brown, and the. ARO STUDIOS W.\GTAIL (MALE). yellow of the lower surface tinged with brown and orange-buff. The distribution of this species is curiously similar to that ofthe white wagtail, extending in summer from central and southernEurope to Siberia ; while in winter the European birds visit Africa,while some of those from Central Asia take an easterly route to passthe winter in Burma and southern China. To the British Isles thespecies is an occasional visitor, rarely occurring in Scotland andunknown in Ireland. It is recorded to have nested in Northumber-land during the seventies, and in Sussex in 1901 and 1903, whileit has probably also bred in Suffolk. In May 1907 two pairs of thesebirds nested in a marsh in Kent. The nest was placed amidst tallgrass on the bank of a ditch, and contained six eggs. The blue-headed wagtail does not perch so readily as the yellow species, forwhile the latter settles freely on bush, tree, or fence, and may beseen
Size: 1926px × 1298px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookauthorlydekkerrichard184919, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900
