_Motacilla flava_, LINN. Syst. Nat. I (1766), 33.—FINSCH & HARTLAUB,
Vögel Ostafrikas, 268. _Budytes flava_, BON. (1838).—MIDDENDORFF,
Sibirische Reise, II, ii (1852), 168.—DEGLAND & GERBE, Ornith.
Europ. I (1867), 376.—BAIRD, Trans. Chicago Acad. Sci. I, ii, p.
312, pl. xxx, fig. 1; 1869.—DALL & BANNISTER, Tr. Ch. Ac. I,
1869, 127.—TRISTRAM, Ibis, 1871, 231.—FINSCH, 1872.
SP. CHAR. Description of specimen No. 45,912, taken at St. Michael’s,
Norton Sound, June 6, 1866, by H. M. Bannister. Above, including edges
of upper tail-coverts, rich olive-green, the top and sides of the head
and neck pure ash-gray; chin and well-marked stripe from nostrils over
the eye to the nape, white; all under parts rich yellow, tinged with
olive on the sides. Stripe from corner of mouth through the eye, and
involving the ear-coverts, blackish-ash. Feathers of wings and tail
dark brown; the coverts and secondaries edged with olive (showing the
obscure light wing-bars), the longest of the latter edged externally
with white; innermost quills edged externally with white. Outer three
quills nearly equal and longest (the prolonged secondaries as long),
the others graduating less. Outer tail-feathers and shaft white; the
inner web edged externally with dusky, which, beginning at the base,
runs out gradually to the edge, about half an inch from tip of
feathers; second feather with rather less white, and with a narrow
line of brown along the outer side of the shaft to within half an inch
of the tip. Bill and legs blackish.
[Illustration: _Budytes flava._]
Dimensions (prepared specimen). Total length, 6.00; wing, 3.00; tail,
3.00; exposed portion of first primary, 2.30. Bill: length from
forehead, 0.58; from nostril, 0.35; along gape, 0.57. Legs: tarsus,
0.91; middle toe and claw, 0.70; claw alone, 0.16; hind toe and claw,
0.65; claw alone, 0.36.
A second specimen (No. 45,910) differs in having ashy color of head
obscured with olivaceous-brown; and the yellow on breast showing
brownish bases. The light markings on the wings more distinct and
whiter.
Another bird (No. 45,913), taken on shipboard, about ninety miles west
of St. Matthew’s Island, Behring’s Sea, August 10, 1866, appears to be
of the same species, in autumnal dress. Here the upper colors are more
brown; the lower parts yellowish-white tinged with brownish-fulvous
across the breast and flank. Kamtschatkan specimens of the same stage
of plumage are very similar.
I am unable to distinguish this species from the Protean _Budytes
flava_ of Europe and Asia. Many different races appear to be found
throughout this wide circle of distribution, many of them more or less
local, but the proportions and general character are the same in all,
and the general tendency appears to be to unite all into one species.
The sexes and ages of all the species, real or supposed, vary very
much, and, in the absence of a large series, I can throw no light upon
the obscurities of the subject. I cite above the latest general work
on the birds of Europe, in which will be found the principal
synonymes.
The specimens from Alaska submitted for examination to Mr. H. B.
Tristram were identified by him as the _B. flava_.
HABITS. The Gray-headed Wagtail of Europe finds a place in the fauna
of North America as a bird of Alaska, where specimens have been
obtained, and where it is, at least, an occasional visitant. It is not
a common bird of the British Islands, where it is replaced by a
closely allied species. Only seven or eight instances of its
occurrence were known to Mr. Yarrell.
On the continent of Europe it is quite an abundant species, inhabiting
wet springy places in moist meadows, and frequenting the vicinity of
water and the gravelly edges of rivers. It is numerous in all the
central portions of Europe. It has also an extensive northern and
eastern geographical range, appearing in Norway and Sweden as early as
April and remaining there until September. Linnæus met with it in
Lapland on the 22d of May. It occurs in Algeria, Nubia, and Egypt. Mr.
Gould has received it from the Himalayas, and Temminck gives it as a
bird of Japan.
According to Degland, this bird is a very abundant species in France,
where it nests on the ground in the cornfields, in open fields,
meadows, and amidst the standing grain. It lays from four to six eggs,
of a brownish-yellow on a reddish-white ground, profusely covered with
fine dots of reddish-gray, which are more or less confluent. A few
zigzag lines of dark brown or black are found on the larger end. They
measure .63 of an inch in length and .55 in breadth. Its food is
flies, moths, small green caterpillars, and aquatic insects.
Ray’s Wagtail, recognized by some authors as a distinct species, is
probably only an insular race, chiefly found in the British Islands
and in Western France. In the latter place both birds occur, and here
also they have been known to mate the one with the other. Their nests
and eggs are so alike as not to be distinguishable. The former are
constructed of fine fibrous roots and fine stems of grasses, and are
lined with hair.
These birds are remarkably social, collecting in small flocks soon
after leaving their nests, and until their autumnal migrations
following the older birds in quest of food. They have two call-notes
which are quite shrill, and are repeated in succession, the second
being lower in tone. No mention is made by the naturalists of the
Telegraph Expedition of their having any song other than these notes.
Mr. Bannister first observed this species at St. Michael’s, on the 9th
or 10th of June, and from that time until late in August they were
among the most abundant of the land-birds. During the month of June he
observed them in flocks of twenty or thirty individuals. It seemed to
be a rather shy bird. He described its flight as like that of our
common Goldfinch, rising with a few strokes of its wings, then closing
them and describing a sort of paraboloidal curve in the air. The only
note which he heard and identified as uttered by this species was a
kind of faint chirp, hardly to be called a song. These birds seemed to
prefer the open country, and were rarely observed in the low brush,
the only approach to woods found on the island.