This family includes the wagtails and pipits. These are slenderly built birds, whose line of flight is an undulating curve. They feed on the ground, sometimes making little sallies into the air after their quarry, and run with great speed. They never hop. They constantly “wag the tail,” hence their popular name. The wagtails are distinguished from the pipits by their brighter colouring and longer tails. Pipits are earth-coloured birds with dark stripes along the vein of each feather.
All the wagtails except M. maderaspatensis are merely winter visitors to the plains of India.
[91]. Motacilla alba: The White Wagtail. (F. 826), (J. 591), (-II.)
General colour of plumage grey. Face, chin, and throat white, back of head and nape black; a black patch on the breast, the remainder of the lower plumage is white. The wings are black with much white in them. The middle tail feathers are black, the outer ones white. [In all wagtails the outer tail feathers are white, and show up very distinctly during flight.]
Not found in S. India. (Illus. B. B., p. 111.)
[92]. Motacilla maderaspatensis: The Large Pied Wagtail. (F. 831), (J. 589), (II.)
A black bird with a conspicuous white eyebrow. The breast and lower plumage are white. There is a broad white bar in the wing. The outer tail feathers are white.
The only bird with which this wagtail can possibly be confounded is the cock magpie-robin or Dhayal ([68]) (q.v.), but the two are easily distinguishable by—
(1) The magpie-robin lacks the white eyebrows.
(2) The magpie-robin carries his tail erect; the wagtail never erects its tail.