Mr. Thompson on the Birds of Ireland. 183 



mere diversion. On another occasion I saw a pair of wagtails 

 pursue, to its great annoyance, a poor bat ( Vesper tilio Pipistrel- 

 lus ?) that untowardly appeared during one of the dark days 

 of December (9th, 1832). 



Gray Wagtail, Motacilla Boarula, Linn. — This beautiful 

 and graceful species, though much less common than the last, 

 is extensively, but not universally distributed over Ireland. 

 Like the pied wagtail it is permanently resident throughout the 

 country, whilst in the north of England it is known only as a 

 summer, and in the south* (in general terms) as a winter vi- 

 sitor. For many years I have remarked its presence during 

 every winter in the counties of Down and Antrim, and about 

 the mountain rivulets as well as those adjacent to the sea. 

 When by frost and snow the woodcocks have been driven from 

 the mountain heaths to the covers, and the snipes from the 

 marshes to the unfrozen springs, I have observed the gray 

 wagtail in its summer haunts about the ponds at the moun- 

 tainous locality of Wolf hill. At this season and late in the 

 autumn it is occasionally seen in places of a very different 

 character — in the extensive tan-yards, &c. of Belfast. 



The situations generally selected for the nest are holes in 

 walls, those of bridges, about mill-wheels, or otherwise conti- 

 guous to water being preferred. In the romantic glens they 

 also build, and for this purpose a pair generally resorts to a 

 fissure of the rock beside a picturesque cascade at "the Falls," 

 just such a place as would be chosen by the water-ouzel. On 

 the 18th of March my relative has observed a pair of these 

 birds apparently contemplating nidification, by minutely ex- 

 amining their former breeding haunts, and on the 12th of May 

 has seen the young of the first brood on wing, though still re- 

 quiring their parents' aid to feed them. The nest is generally 

 formed of grasses and lined with horse-hair. I have invariably 

 remarked the female as well as the male to possess the black 

 mark on the throat in the nuptial season. After Montagu and 

 Selby it may seem unnecessary to allude to this, but Tem- 

 minck's having described it as characteristic of the male only, 



* On August 28th I saw it in the gravelly bed of the river at Dole in 

 France. In the third week of March I have remarked it atOgley Pool, North 

 Wales. 



