1.  The common pied wagtail, Motacilla lugubris. Also applied, with some distinctive epithet, to other species.

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1611.  Cotgr., Hausse-queue, the yellow Water-wagtaile.

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1668.  Charleton, Onomast., 90. Motacilla … the washer, or water-wagtail.

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a. 1672.  Willughby, Ornith., II. xvii. (1676), 171. Motacilla alba. The white Water-wagtail. Ibid., 172. Motacilla flava. The yellow Water-wagtail.

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1734.  Albin, Nat. Hist. Birds, II. 54. The common black and white Water-Wagtail.

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1758.  G. Edwards, Glean. Nat. Hist., I. 105. The Grey Water-wagtail.

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1826.  Scott, Jrnl., 14 June. As blithe as a water-wagtail.

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1877.  Miss A. B. Edwards, Up Nile, vi. 138. The sparrows and water-wagtails perch familiarly on the awnings and hop about the deck.

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1894.  R. B. Sharpe, Handbk. Birds Gt. Brit., I. 92. The Wagtail of Madagascar, M. flaviventris, and the Grey Wagtail of Europe, M. melanope, are ‘Water’ Wagtails, with the colouring of Yellow Wagtails.

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  † b.  Applied playfully or derisively to a person.

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1694.  Crowne, Married Beau, V. 61. If my old Water-wagtail will only hop about the brinks of Marriage, and never step in, I’ll drive him away.

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1697.  Vanbrugh, Prov. Wife, V. iii. Why now, my pretty Pall; my Goldfinch; my little Watter-wagtail—you must know that.

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  2.  U.S. = WATER-THRUSH.

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1865.  J. Burroughs, Wake-robin, ii. (1884), 77. The water-wagtail (Seiurus noveboracensis)—erroneously called water-thrush.

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1872.  Coues, Key N. Amer. Birds, 106. Seiurus noveboracensis. Water Thrush. Water Wagtail.

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