Two of our British Wagtails are very closely related, so much so that it requires a very critical eye to distinguish them even at close range. They also frequently interbreed. In their distribution, however, there is a considerable difference between the White Wagtail (_Motacilla alba_) and the Pied Wagtail (_M. lugubris_). While the former ranges almost all over Europe and Asia, the latter is a local form resident in the British Islands, Southern Scandinavia, and France, and a winter visitor to Spain and North-west Africa. The genus _Motacilla_ is probably Oriental in its origin, but it seems as if the Pied Wagtail was a Lusitanian species which had gradually spread northward, only to return to South-western Europe in severe weather for shelter. The Bearded Titmouse (_Panurus biarmicus_)--the only representative of the family _Panuridæ_--may possibly be a Lusitanian bird. The fact of its being absent from Scandinavia and Northern Russia is suggestive of a southern origin. It is doubtful whether the bird occurs on the south side of the Mediterranean, but it is common in the south of France and Spain, and has also been observed in Sicily, Greece, and Asia Minor. In Central Europe it is found sparingly, and eastward its range extends as far as Turkestan. The genus _Fringilla_, which belongs to the great family of the Finches, appears to be not only of European origin, but, if the range of the species counts for anything, I should feel inclined to locate their home in the south-west. Altogether, five species are known. One of them, viz., _Fringilla teydea_, is confined to the Island of Teneriffe; another, _F. madeirensis_, is found in Madeira, the Canaries, and the Azores; a third, _F. spodiogenys_, inhabits North-west Africa. The two remaining species have a much wider range. _F. cœlebs_--the common Chaffinch--occurs in Europe, while its range extends eastward to Western Siberia, Persia, and Turkestan. The other--_F. montifringilla_, known as the Brambling--is more common in Northern Europe, and generally frequents the more northern latitudes of Asia as far as Japan. It might be urged that the peculiar little blue Magpie of Spain--_Cyanopolius Cooki_--should find a place among the Lusitanian species, since there is no bird like it anywhere else in Europe. But in Eastern Siberia there lives a bird so closely allied as to be barely distinguishable from it. Nevertheless, since there are some distinguishing characters, it has received a distinct name--_C. cyanus_. This is a most interesting and remarkable case of discontinuous distribution, which may perhaps be explained by the supposition that the genus is of Oriental origin, and has died out at its former headquarters in Southern Asia and all along the line of migration, except at the extreme limits of the range in both directions--east and west.