but throat white and grey darker, almost black behind eyes. Breeding: south-eastern France, Iberia, Maghreb from Tunisia to Banc d'Arguin. Winter: The Gambia to the Central African Republic. M. f. cinereocapilla Savi, 1831 – ashy-headed wagtail Like iberiae but supercilium absent or vestigial. Breeding: Sicily, Sardinia, Italy, Slovenia. Winter: coastal Tunisia and Algeria, Mali to Lake Chad. M. f. pygmaea (A. E. Brehm, 1854) – Egyptian yellow wagtail Similar to cinereocapilla, smaller, less bright. Nile delta and lower Nile, resident all year. M. f. feldegg Michahelles, 1830 – black-headed wagtail Like thunbergi but black cap in males, females like a dull thunbergi male above, very washed-out dirty yellowish below, throat white. Breeding: Balkans east to the Caspian Sea, south to Turkey, Iran and Afghanistan; also Levant. Winter: central Africa from Nigeria to Uganda and south Sudan. M. f. lutea (S. G. Gmelin, 1774) – yellow-headed wagtail Head yellow with green neck in males, females like a somewhat more vivid flava female. Breeding: Lower Volga to Irtysh River and Lake Zaysan. Winter: Africa and Indian subcontinent. M. f. beema (Sykes, 1832) – Sykes' wagtail Like flava but head lighter grey, ears washed white; sexes often similar. Breeding: North of lutea, east to Ladakh area. Winter: Indian subcontinent, also east Africa and adjacent Arabia. M. f. melanogrisea (Homeyer, 1878) – Turkestan black-headed wagtail Similar to feldegg, but white malar stripe and sometimes green neck. Breeding: Volga Delta east around Caspian Sea to northern Afghanistan. Winter: Pakistan and north-west India to western Nepal, possibly also north-eastern Africa. M. f. plexa (Thayer & Bangs, 1914) – north Siberian yellow wagtail Males like thunbergi but ears darker, top of head lighter, vestigial supercilium. Females like dull males. Breeding: Siberia between Khatanga and Kolyma Rivers. Winter: India, south-east Asia. M. f. leucocephala (Przevalski, 1887) – white-headed yellow wagtail Male like flava, but grey of head very pale, almost white. Female like flava females, but head somewhat darker. Breeding: North-west Mongolia and adjacent China and Russia. Winter: probably India. The nominate blue-headed wagtail and yellow wagtail form a narrow hybrid zone in northern France. Birds from this zone vary in appearance, but one type, which resembles nominate blue-headed wagtail (except that the blue tones to the head are paler and more mauve and the white of the head is more extensive, particularly on the throat, ear-coverts, and supercilium) is colloquially referred to as Channel wagtail. In culture