White wagtail - White wagtail (English spelling)

Japanese: ハクセキレイ(白鶺鴒) - ハクセキレイ（英語表記）white wagtail

A passerine bird of the Wagtail family. Total length is about 20 cm. Its back is gray or black, its chest is black, but its face and belly are white, making it an overall whitish wagtail. It is widely distributed across Eurasia, and those that breed in high latitudes migrate south in winter. The black and white patterning on the head and back of males is highly variable, and they are broadly divided into two groups: the gray-backed type found in central Eurasia and the black-backed type found in Britain and East Asia, and are further divided into numerous subspecies. The evolution of the subspecies is interpreted as a result of population isolation during the ice age.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

スズメ目セキレイ科の鳥。全長約20cm。背面が灰色または黒色，胸も黒いが，顔や腹は白く，全体に白っぽいセキレイである。ユーラシア大陸に広く分布し，高緯度地方で繁殖するものは冬に南方へ渡る。雄の頭部と背面の白黒紋様は非常に変異に富み，ユーラシア大陸中部の灰背型とイギリス，東アジアの黒背型の2グループに大別され，さらに数多くの亜種に分類される。亜種の進化は氷期に個体群が隔離された結果起こったと解釈されている。

出典　株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について　情報

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