Page:The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma (Birds Vol 2).djvu/301

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MOTACILLA.
287


d'. Tarsus considerably longer than one inch.

ff". Back always ashy grey M. citreola, p. 298. h" . Back either black or with some black or dusky feathers M. citreoloides, p. 299.

826. Motacilla alba. The White Wigtail.

Motacilla alba, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 331 (1766) ; Hume, Cat. no. 591 ter ; Scully, S. F. vi'ii, p. 314 ; Oates, B. B. i, p. 156 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. x, p. 404. Motacilla dukhunensis, Sykcs, P. Z. S. 1832, p. 91 ; filyth, Cat. p. 137 ; Horsf. $ M. Cat. i, p. 349 ; Brooks, S. F. ii, p. 457, vii, p. 137 ; Hume, Cat. no. 59 Ibis ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 236. Dhobin, Hind.

Figs. 77, 78, 79. Wing, foot, and head of M. alba.

Coloration. In normal full summer plumage, the forehead, anterior portion of crown, sides of the head and of the neck are pure white ; remainder of crown, nape, and hind neck, chin, throat, fore neck, and breast deep black ; upper plumage, scapulars, and lesser wing-coverts grey ; upper tail-coverts more or less black, margined exteriorly with white ; wing-coverts and tertiaries blackish, broadly margined with white ; primaries and secondaries black, narrowly margined wit h whitish ; the four middle pairs of tail-feathers black, the others nearly entirely white ; lower plumage from the breast downwards pure white.

In normal winter plumage the chin, throat, and fore neck become white, and the black on the breast is reduced to a narrow crescentic patch, sometimes extending narrowly up the sides of the fore neck.

The nestling is uniform greenish ashy above, and the lower