Motacilla (motasila)

[NL., tails. The name has been used with great latitude and little discrimination for many small singing birds of all parts of the world, as the true Sylviidæ or Old World warblers, various Muscicapidæ or Old World flycatchers, many of the American Sylvicolidæ or wood-warblers, and for all the Motacillidæ, including the pipits or titlarks of the subfamily Anthinæ. It is now restricted to the black and-white or pied wagtails, as M. alba, of lithe form, with ma ed coloration of black, white, and ashy, long vibratile tail of twelve weak narrow feathers, pointed wings whose tip is formed by the first three primaries, and whose inner secondaries are long and flowing, and long slender feet without specially lengthened or straightened hind claws. There are many species, widely distributed in Europe, Asia, and other parts of the Old World, one or two of which sometimes straggle to America. Thus, M. alba has been found in Green land and M. ocular is in California. Motacillidæ (mo-ta-sil'ide), plines of Motacilla + -ida.] A of birds the order Pa eres, typified by the genus Mota cill a; the wagtails. The bill is shorter than the head, straight, slender, acute, and notched; the primaries are nine in number; the inner secondaries are lengthened; the feet are long and slender, with scutellate tarsi and usually long and straightened claw; and the tail is usually as long as the wings. The Motacillidæ are small insectivorous birds of terrestrial habits, resembling larks ( Alau dide ) in some respects, but widely separated by the lam in i plantation of the podotheca. Two subfamilies are generally recognized, Mot a cill inæ and Anthinæ, or wagtails proper and pipits or titlarks.