wagtail

Britannica Concise

Print Article :: Email Article :: Cite Article

Gray wagtail (Motacilla cinerea).
H. Reinhard-Bruce Coleman Inc.

Any of 7–10 passerine species in the genus Motacilla and the forest wagtail (Dendronanthus indicus) of Asia.

Wagtails continually pump their long tail up and down; the forest wagtail wags its entire body from side to side. They inhabit beaches, meadows, and streamsides, nesting on the ground and roosting in trees. Males of the white, or pied, wagtail (M. alba), common across Eurasia, are white and gray or white and black. The only New World species, the yellow wagtail (M. flava), breeds in Alaska and migrates to Asia.

Images and Media:

More on "wagtail" from Britannica Concise:

pipit - Any of about 50 species (especially in the genus Anthus) of small, slender-bodied, ground-dwelling songbirds belonging to the family Motacillidae.

More on "wagtail" from the 32 Volume Encyclopædia Britannica:

wagtail - any of the 7 to 10 species of the bird genus Motacilla, of the family Motacillidae, together with the forest wagtail (Dendronanthus indicus) of Asia. Wagtails are strongly patterned birds of beaches, meadows, and streamsides; they usually nest on the ground but roost in trees. The birds are so named because they incessantly wag their long tails up and down. The forest wagtail wags its entire ...

wheatear - (genus Oenanthe), any of a group of 19 species of thrushes belonging to the family Turdidae. They resemble wagtails in having pied plumage and the tail-wagging habit (with body bobbing). Wheatears are about 15 cm (6 inches) long and have comparatively short tails, often with T-shaped markings. Most are black and white or black and gray; some have yellow touches; and each has a white rear ...

community ecology - In the process called coevolutionary alternation, one species coevolves with several other species by shifting among the species with which it interacts over many generations. European cuckoos (Cuculus canorus) provide an example of this type of coevolution. The cuckoos behave as brood parasites, laying their eggs in the nests of other avian species and depending on these hosts to raise their ...

Tien Shan - The diversity and range of animals and birds in the Tien Shan increased markedly following the relocation of much of the human population to lower elevations. Species typifying the mountain fauna include wolves, foxes, and ermines. There also are many distinctively Central Asian species, chiefly inhabiting the high mountains; these include snow leopards, mountain goats, Manchurian roe, roe deer, ...

pipit - any of about 50 species of small, slender-bodied ground birds of the family Motacillidae (order Passeriformes, suborder Passeres [songbirds]), especially the genus Anthus, found worldwide except in polar regions and on some islands.

To cite this article:

MLA style:
"." Encyclopædia Britannica. . Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. <>.
APA style:
. (). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved , , from Britannica Concise Encyclopedia:

Search for "wagtail" at Encyclopædia Britannica Online for all this plus dictionary definitions, magazine articles, and more.

Britannica Concise is a complete, 28,000 article, single-volume encyclopedia from the editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. Visit Encyclopædia Britannica Online to access the complete Encyclopædia Britannica, the Britannica Student Encyclopedia, a world atlas, interactive timelines, Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary and Thesaurus, hundreds of magazine titles, daily features and much more.