. A chapter on birds : rare British birds . THE BLUE-HEADED WAGTAIL. {Motacilla flara.) PIVE species of Wagtails are known in the*- British Islands. They are all more or lessmigratory; but two of them, the Pied Wagtail{Motacilla lugubris) and the Grey Wagtail {Mota-cilla melanope) stay during the winter in somenumbers, though most of them leave our shoresfor more southern climes. The Pied Wagtail, most familiarly knownin England as the Dish-washer, may almostbe said to be a peculiar British bird, for itsnesting-home is almost confined to our is known to breed also in the North-west
. A chapter on birds : rare British birds . THE BLUE-HEADED WAGTAIL. {Motacilla flara.) PIVE species of Wagtails are known in the*- British Islands. They are all more or lessmigratory; but two of them, the Pied Wagtail{Motacilla lugubris) and the Grey Wagtail {Mota-cilla melanope) stay during the winter in somenumbers, though most of them leave our shoresfor more southern climes. The Pied Wagtail, most familiarly knownin England as the Dish-washer, may almostbe said to be a peculiar British bird, for itsnesting-home is almost confined to our is known to breed also in the North-west ofFrance, and the nest has, on one occasion, been. , BLUE-HEADED WAGTAIL,i Size. THE BLUE-HEADED WAGTAIL. 67 found in Holland. It also nests in South-westernNorway, but. it is a species quite peculiar toWestern Europe, and even in its migrations itstill adheres to this distribution, going in winterto Southern France, and, in fewer numbers, toSpain and Morocco, in company with its con-gener, the White Wagtail {Motacilla alba). Withthis species it returns in spring; but the latterbird takes the place of the Pied Wagtail through-out the greater part of Europe, and visits Englandmore rarely. Sometimes a partnership takesplace between the two species, as was proved afew years ago by Lord Walsingham, who in-structed his keepers to procure a pair of PiedWagtails for the series of groups of British Birdsin the British Museum. The nest and youngbirds were duly obtained with the parent birds,when the male proved to be a White Wagtail{Motacilla alba), and the female a Pied Wagtail(M. lugubris). This curious western distributionis observed in
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1895
