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ON THE YELLOW WAGTAILS, AND THEIR POSITION IN THE BRITISH AVIFAUNA.

BY

N. F. TICEHURST, F.R.C.S., M.B.O.U.

IN 1832 the late John Gould pointed out that the British Yellow Wagtail was a different species from that inhabiting the nearest parts of the continent and at the same time clearly showed that, while the continental was of rare occurrence in this country, our common species was almost equally rare on the continent.* The common Yellow Wagtail (Motacilla rail, Bonaparte) is a regular summer migrant to the British islands, which form its head-quarters throughout the breeding season. It arrives on our south coast during the last ten days of March, throughout April and during the first week of May, the males generally appearing a full fortnight before the females. Jts breeding range extends from the southern counties of England as far west as Somerset, northward to Inverness and Aberdeen, throughout which area it is generally distributed in suitable localities. In Devon and Cornwall it occurs chiefly as a spring and autumn migrant, though in the former county it breeds in limited numbers. In Wales it is local as a breeding species, while to the north of Scotland it can only be regarded as a rare visitor. It is said to have occurred in the Shetlands, and an adult male was obtained on Fair Isle, 8th May, 1906, and in Ireland it is extremely local, breeding in one or two localities only. In most parts of the continent it occurs only as a straggler during the periods of migration, but in it is found in summer as a breeding species to the west of " Proc. Zool.- Soc," 1832, p. 129. 134 BRITISH . Dieppe, and occurs regularly as a migrant through Portugal and the western half of the Spanish Peninsula. In winter it is found over a large part of the continent of and has even reached the Transvaal, but it is of most frequent occurrence along the west coast. The nesting habits of this bird are given more or less fully in all the text books, and are so well known to British ornithologists that there is no need to recapi­ tulate them here. On the continent of our common species is replaced by one or other of the numerous forms of the Blue-headed Wagtail, the males of which all differ from the males of the Yellow Wagtail in having the head of a lighter or darker shade of bluish-grey instead of greenish- yellow, and having a white streak above the eye (absent in some of the forms) instead of a broad streak of canary- yellow. The females and young birds are less easily dis­ tinguished. These various forms are only separable from one another by the differences in shade of the colour of the head and the presence or absence of the white eye- stripe. Of these forms the following five have occurred in this country:

1. BLUE-HEADED WAGTAIL. Motacilla flava flava L. The Blue-headed Wagtail is found over the greater part of Europe, ranging from as far north as central Scandi­ navia and northern , to the shores of the Mediter­ ranean. The adult male has a bluish-slate crown, a white stripe above the eye, and nearly always an ill-defined white streak through the ear-coverts, which are darker than the crown. The female can be distinguished from that of If. raii by the slightly bluer tint of the crown and the purer whiteness of the eye-stripe and chin. The young birds in autumn are much less easy to identify with certainty, especially in the field. In the latter part of August, and from thence on till the beginning of October, when they are to be found on our coasts, the autumn moult is taking place, and being a gradual process, a good deal of variation is to be met with according to the ages of the individuals and the consequent different degree to N. F. TICEHURST : YELLOW WAGTAILS. 135 which the moult has progressed. The Wagtails as a whole, too, seem prone to a certain amount of individual variation, particularly in the distribution and intensity of colour of the lighter parts of their plumage. It is difficult, there­ fore, to lay down hard and fast distinctions between the young of the two species at this season, but from the examination of a good series the following points may be enumerated as being pretty constant throughout:—In M. raii the throat and upper breast are a warm pinkish buff, and may have some of the darker feathers of the first plumage still showing along the sides and below if the moult is not complete. Below the base of the mandible the colour is often inclined to be paler, but is never white. In M. flava flava, the throat in the majority of specimens is white, but it may be mixed with a few yellowish feathers. On the breast the white shades gradually into pinkish buff, with a good many yellow or ashy-brown feathers inter­ mingled, and so on the belly into a purer yellow, which varies in intensity enormously in individuals of both species. The eye-stripes are pinkish buff or buffish white in all the M. raii I have examined, while in the other species they are never of this colour, but vary from yellowish white to almost pure white. These characters, besides being the most constant, are useful ones in the field, as when the observer has once got them firmly fixed in his head he can be almost certain of picking out, with the help of a good glass, the young Blue- headed Wagtails in a mixed flock. The tints of the back show a great deal of variation within small limits, and are dependent on the stage to which the moult has advanced. On the whole, the head and back of M. raii are inclined to a warmer tint of brown than those of M. f. flava—almost a clove-brown on the heads of some specimens, and with a tinge of yellow if the bird is only just beginning to moult. In M. flava flava the tint is decidedly colder and a more greenish-brown, and the green of the rump seems to be more decided in most specimens. The Blue-headed Wagtail has now been recorded from most of the southern and eastern counties of England, several times from Scotland, and from Derby, Cumberland and the Shetlands, but its occurrence in Ireland is doubtful. 136 BRITISH BIRDS. As would be expected by its geographical range, it has occurred more frequently in the British Isles than any other of the following forms, and I shall give later a more detailed account of its status in this country.

2. SYKES' WAGTAIL. Motacilla flava beema Sykes. This form represents the above in western and central Siberia, and winters in Afghanistan and India. It occasionally occurs in western Europe and the countries bordering the Mediterranean during migration. It differs from M. flava flava in having a pearl-grey head and a white face and ear-coverts, with a pearl-grey band through the eye. A male of this race was obtained at Rottingdean, Sussex, on April 20th, 1898, and is now in the Tring Museum. It was recorded in the "Zoologist"* by Mr. Butterfield. The male bird that was obtained with the first Sussex nest of the Blue-headed Wagtail on 31st May, 1901, was said by Mr. Dresser to " come nearest to M. beema,"f but it could not to my mind be described as having white cheeks, and was without doubt, I consider, a somewhat worn specimen of M. flava flava. So that the only typical specimen of M.f. beema that has yet occurred in this country is the one in the Tring Museum.

3. G-REY-HEADED WAGTAIL. Motacilla flava borealis Sund. This is the race which breeds in northern , Russia, and Siberia. It occurs on migration throughout southern Europe, and winters in north-east Africa, India, Ceylon, and Burma. The head and nape are a dark slaty- blue ; the lores and feathers round the eye and ear-coverts darker, almost black; the sides of the neck are slaty-blue, the cheeks and chin white, and the eye-stripe is absent. Of this form, as might have been expected by its distribution, a number of specimens have now been obtained in the British Isles. Two birds that occurred on the Pentland Skerries have been assigned to it by Mr. Harvie- Brown,J the first being obtained on May 19th, 1888, while the second was seen by the same man who shot the first, on May 3rd of the following year. * " Zoologist," 1902, p. 232. t T.c, 1901, p. 389. X " A Vertebrate Fauna of the Orkney Islands," p. 108. N. F. TICEHURST: YELLOW WAGTAILS. 137 In the spring of 1901 an adult male was captured in a lark net at Halifax, and was exhibited by Mr. W. E. de Winton at the British Ornithologists' Club on May 20th, 1903* On May 13th, 1903, two adult males were shot at Willingdon, in Sussex; they were recorded in the " Zoologist," and exhibited at the British Ornithologists' Club by Mr. Butterfield on the 20th May of the same year.f Another adult male was shot near Winchelsea, Sussex, on May 2nd, 1904, and was exhibited by Mr. M. J. Nicoll at the British Ornithologists' Club on May 18th.J Lastly, a pair were obtained, with their nest and eggs, by Mr. Bristow in Eomney Marsh, near the Kent and Sussex border, on 20th June, 1906. Mr. M. J. Nicoll had seen the birds near the spot where they were afterwards obtained, but he failed to locate the nest. The birds and eggs were subsequently purchased by Mr. P. F. Bunyard, who exhibited them at the British Ornithologists' Club on November 21st of the same year.§

4. BLACK-HEADED WAGTAIL. Motaeilla flava melanocephala Licht. This bird is found in south-eastern Europe in summer, and in north-east Africa, Arabia and south Persia in winter. The adult male has the entire head black and the whole of the underside, from the base of the bill, a brilliant yellow. An adult male was shot at Willingdon, in Sussex, on May 13th, 1903,. and recorded in the "Zoologist " for that year.|| The specimen was exhibited \>y Mr. Butterfield at the British Ornithologists' Club, on May 20th, 1903.1 So far this is the only specimen of this form that has occurred in this country.

5. ASHY-HEADED WAGTAIL. Motaeilla flava cinereocapilla Savi. The basin of the Mediterranean is inhabited by this race, the adult male of which has the head and nape,

* " Bulletin B.O.C.," Vol. xin., p. 68. t T.c, Vol. xin., p. 69; " Zoologist," 1903, p. 420. I " Bulletin B.O.C.," Vol. xiv., p. 81. § T.c, Vol. xix., p. 23. || " Zoologist," 1903, p. 420. IT " Bulletin B.O.C.," Vol. xin., p. 69. 138 BRITISH BIRDS. hind-neck and sides of neck dark slaty-grey; the lores, feathers round the eye and ear-coverts jet-black, and the cheeks and entire throat white. The eye-stripe is absent. The first example of this form obtained in England is the one figured by Gould and mentioned in a footnote in Yarrell.* It was shot near Penzance and was in Mr. Rodd's collection. It is said to differ from the typical M. jktva cinereocapilla by having a short white superciliary streak behind the ear only. A second specimen was obtained at Sheringham in Norfolk " about May, 1842." It was originally recorded by Messrs. Fisher and Gurney in the "Zoologist" as the Grey­ headed Wagtail, M. neglecta, but on further examination by Mr. Gurney it has been assigned to the present form.f

Returning once more to the Blue-headed Wagtail (M. flava jlava), a critical examination of the records reveals the fact that it has occurred more frequently in Sussex than in all of the other counties of England and Scotland taken together. Its visits to the south-eastern corner of England indeed are now so frequent and regular that, as I pointed out at the meeting of the British Ornithologists' Club on November 19th, 1902, this species must now be regarded as a regular spring visitor in small numbers to that area. It arrives from 20th April to 1st May, and a few pairs remain to breed. In autumn the return flight, consisting chiefly of young birds, moves along the coast about the third week of August, in company with the pied and common Yellow Wagtails. J It seems highly improbable that Sussex alone should be so favoured by this species, and I am strongly of opinion that it is very generally overlooked. The females and young birds of the year require to be very thoroughly known before one can be certain of recognizing them in the field, but when once the characteristics are known careful observation with a good glass is only necessary for

* "Birds of Great Brita'n," Pt.xxn.; "British Birds," Vol.1., pp.559—560. t " Handbook of British Birds," Ed. n., p. 364; "Zoologist," 1846, p. 1310; Gurney, " Trans. Norf. Nat. Soc," 1876, p. 226. t "Bulletin B.O.C.," Vol. xin., p. 20 N. F. TICEHURST : YELLOW WAGTAILS. 139 their identification. My own observations and those of Mr. Michael J. Mcoll, carried on chiefly in Sussex, extend only a short distance into Kent, but from what we have seen we consider that the Blue-headed Wagtail is at least as common a bird along the south coast of Kent as it is in Sussex. The bird has been observed several times near the north coast of Kent by Dr. A. G. Butler, and altogether there are a fairly large number of records for this county, so that it is highly probable that it is of as frequent occurrence in Kent as in the neighbouring county. I note, in a recent article in the " Zoologist" (1907, p. 92), that it occurred at least twice last year in Surrey, and it would be well worth the while of county ornithologists to work out in greater detail the distribu­ tion of the Blue-headed Wagtail in this country. I should not be surprised to hear that it is an annual visitor in small numbers to the eastern and southern maritime counties, not only on migration, but as a breeding bird. Up to a few years ago, the records of the nesting of this species in England were very few. In Stevenson's "Birds of Norfolk," Vol. I., p. 165, a nest, which is supposed to have belonged to this species, is mentioned as having been taken at Herringfleet, in Suffolk, in 1842. In the " Zoologist," pp. 2343 and 2406 will be found the accounts of two nests found in 1869, and another in 1870, near Gateshead-on- Tyne. In his " British Birds' Eggs," Dr. A. G. Butler describes what appears to have been a nest and eggs of this species sent to him from north Kent in 1885. There is also a certain amount of evidence that it has bred at least once of late years in the Broad district of Norfolk. Turning now to Sussex, Booth says,* that though he had never had the fortune to meet with a nest, he was well acquainted with certain spots between Brighton and Shoreham, where a pair or two of these birds could be found at almost any time during May, and that he had frequently noticed males in the vicinity of two or three * " Borrer's Birds of Sussex," p. 96 ; "A Catalogue of Birds in the Dyke Koad Museum, Brighton," p. 102. 140 BRITISH BIRDS. sheep ponds on the Downs, at seasons when it was most probable that the females were sitting close at hand. Subsequent experience goes to prove that Booth was probably perfectly correct in his surmise. It was not, however, until May 31st, 1901, that the first authenticated nest was found in Sussex. On this date Mr. Bristow took a nest, with four eggs, near Winchelsea.* Three of the eggs were unfortunately broken, but the

Nesting-place of the Blue-headed Wagtail at Winchelsea, Sussex. (Photograph by N. I\ TICEHURST.) fourth egg and the nest are now in the collection of Capt. Boyd Alexander at Cranbrook. I recorded the nesting of two pairs in 1903 at the same spot near Winchelsea. One of these nests was taken and was exhibited by myself at the British Ornithologists' Club. It contained five eggs and is the first Sussex nest with the full complement.t Since that year, a pair or two of these birds has appeared almost annually near Winchelsea, but it is to be feared that the publicity given to their first discovery has prevented them again rearing a brood. * " Zoologist," 1901, p. 389. t " Bulletin B.O.C.," Vol. XIII., p. 78; "Zoologist," 1903, p 420. N. F. TICEHURST : YELLOW WAGTAILS. 141 Fortunately, investigation has proved that Winchelsea is not the only spot in Sussex favoured by this species, and at the present time four other localities are known to me, where single pairs have successfully reared their young within the last few years; so that now the Blue-headed Wagtail must be looked upon as a regular breeding species in small numbers in Sussex. Whether it has always been so is uncertain, but in view of Booth's remarks referred to above, it would seem that this is probable, and that it has hitherto been to a great extent overlooked. If it be not so, the bird must be gradually extending its breeding range, and we may possibly look

Nest and Young of the Blue-headed Wagtail, Sussex, June 4th, 1905. (Photograph by N. F. TIOBHTTRST.) forward to the time when it may become almost as common on our Sussex marshlands as our own Yellow Wagtail. In food and nesting habits the Blue-headed Wagtail 142 BRITISH BIRDS. differs in no way from our common bird, and where it occurs, lives in perfect harmony with it, nesting in the same fields. The accompanying illustration is reproduced from the first photograph ever taken of a nest of this species in England. The nest was found by Mr. M. J. Nicoll, Mr. C. B. Ticehurst and myself in a Sussex marsh, on June 4th, 1905. It was exceptionally well hidden in a field of very long grass and the birds were so wary that we spent three and a quarter hours watching them before we found the nest. It contained four young birds and an addled egg, which with the nest did not differ materially from those of the Yellow Wagtails nesting in the same field; both the parents were seen feeding and tending the young. The young birds left the nest between June 5th and 10th, and an attempt made by Mr. Nicoll to obtain photographs of the parent birds was frustated by heavy rain, which fell almost continuously between those dates. The nest and addled egg are now in my collection. In the nomenclature of the different forms of Motacilla flava I have followed that used by Dr. Hartert in his " Die Vogel der palaarktischen Fauna," as being the most recent revision of the genus, but in the case of our common Yellow Wagtail I have retained it as a separate species under a binomial. It seems only reasonable to do this, at any rate for the present, since I have shown that in the south of England the two birds are found breeding together, even in the same field, and so they can hardly be described as geographical races of one and the same species. [Since the above was written, two pairs to my own knowledge have this year nested, one in one of the known localities in Sussex, the other, which I watched feeding their young on June 16th last, at a new locality in Kent; and further, we read (supra, p. 89) of an undoubted nest and young having been found in Wiltshire. Mr. E. C. R. Jourdain has called my attention to a record in Mr. E. Cambridge Phillips' "Birds of Breconshire," 1899, p. 50, of a nest found in that county by Capt. Sandeman.—N.F.T.]