S. fara, Motacilla (lava. Lin. Scc. Motacilla cliryso gastra, Bech. Yellow Wagtail, Prov. Summer or Spring Wagtail. Breast and abdomen yellow, and the two outer tail-lcathers obliquely half white at the tips; length about six inches and a half; weight five drachms. This species is diffused throughout Europe, Russia, and Siberia, and has been found in moist situations in Madeira. In Devon shire it appears in autumn, but not in spring ; nor is it known to breed in that country, whereas in Hampshire it is said to be stationary. In many of the temperate regions of Europe it appears early in spring, and departs late in autumn and , in France, it is even a partial resi dent during winter. In autumn, it congregates in numer ous bands, which then preferably frequent upland and Champaign arable fields,and sometimes uncultivated land, interspersed with furze. They are also partial to bean fields, and breed in such situations; being more indifferent about water than the white or the grey species. They fami liarly mingle with flocks and herds, and seem almost willing to consort with man ; yet they arc so impatient of bondage that they quickly die in confinement, unless they be taken young, and reared like nightingales; and even this treatment they seldom survive three or four years. The female places her nest in meadows or corn fields, and sometimes on the brink of a stream, under the root of a tree, composing it, outwardly, of dried grass and moss, and lining it with abundance of feathers, hair, and wool. She lays from six to eight ro:Inded eggs, of an olivaceous green, with bright flesh-coloured spots according to some, and dirty-white, or pale-brown, sprinkled all over with a darker shade, according to others; their markings per haps not being invariable. The male assists both in con structing the nest, and in hatching the voting. It has a very shrill note, but which can scarcely be called a song.
S. boarula, 11lvlariIlo boarula, Lin. Lath. Motacilla melanope, Pallas. Grey Wagtail of Pennant, Scc. Yellow Wagtail, of Albin. Prov. Winter Wagtail. Cinereous above, yellow beneath, with the whole of the first. tail feather, and the inner web of the second, white. This species, which has been often confounded with the pre ceding, is more entitled than it to the epithet in as much as it has more of that colour on its plumage. The
grey wagtail is of more rare occurrence than the preced ing, and seems to be of solitary habits, more than two being seldom seen together. It is indigenous, however, to various countries of Europe, and is said to breed in Cumberland. The female makes her nest in heaps of stones, coarse gravel, or in a hole in the earth, and con structs it of dried fibres and moss, which it lines with hair, feathers, or wool. The eggs are from five to eight in number, of a dirty white, marked with reddish spots. This bird is much in motion, constantly flirts its tail, seldom perches, and affects the neighbourhood of waters. According to Latham, it is first seen in this country in April, and departs again in October. In France, few are seen during the winter, many of them, on the approach of that season, migrating far southward. Adanson remarked, that they were very plentiful, in the winter months, in Sene gael, where they were very fat, and captured like o•tolans, being esteemed great delicacies, S. provincialis, Gmel. Tem. Motacilla provincials, Lin. &.c. Sylvia Dartfordiensis, Lath. Dartford Warbler. Dusky reddish brown above, breast and belly deep ferru ginous, middle of the belly white. Inhabits Provence, and rarely England ; but it is not uncommon in Spain, and in the south of Italy. It is rather larger than the common wren, and about five inches in length. The shortness of the wing, and the length of the tail, give it a singular manner of flying, which is in short jerks, with the tail thrown up. Its note is a weak but shrill piping noise, several times repeated. It picks small insects and cater pillars from cabbages, furze, kc. and shily locks and creeps among leaves or bushes, when in the least alarm ed. The female makes her nest in a thick bush of furze, composing it externally of dry grass and little bits of twigs, and lining it with wool and feathers. The hatch consists of four or five eggs, of a slightly greenish-white, with dots of olivaceous and cinereous brown, very numerous and dense, and sometimes exhibiting a band at the larger end.