ro2 THE BIRDS OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



the last departed on June 2. In the same manner parties 

 linger for days or weeks in inland spots —the borders of meres 

 or lakes, or sewage farms, where there is an abundant food- 

 supply, small gnats and their larvje. Returning birds appear 

 about the middle of August and are passing until the end of 

 October. Both Pied and White Wagtails are insectivorous, the 

 food consisting of insects and other small invertebrates. I have 

 watched an October party of Whites turning over fallen beech 

 leaves in the same manner as Chaffinches and Bramblings, 

 hunting for concealed insects. Both birds catch insects on the 

 wing, rising from the ground and dodging after them with rapid 

 turns and twists. 



The White Wagtail ofien perches in trees and is said to 

 roost in the branches, but the usual roost of the migrants is a 

 reed-bed, where they join with Pieds and Yellows. 



The song is similar to that of the Pied, simple but sweet, and 

 several males will perform at the same times, often from a tree 

 or, on the Continent, from a house roof; I have heard a 

 combined chorus from rocks on the coast. The call-note is 

 softer than the tschizzik of the Pied, more like tissick, without 

 the 2 sound, approaching the tone of the Yellow. The nest is 

 placed in similar situations to that of the Pied, and the eggs, 

 four to seven in number, though at times bluer and more boldly 

 marked, are often indistinguishable. 



For the sake of comparison the plumages of the two are 

 given together. The males in summer are white from forehead 

 to neck, with crown and nape black, but in the Pied the black 

 extends over the upper parts to the upper tail-coverts, whilst 

 this area is pearl-grey in the White. White covert tips produce 

 a double wing bar and the inner secondaries are margined 

 with white ; these bars and margins are more distinct on the 

 Pied. In the Pied the quills are blackish, in the White they ■ 

 are browner ; the tail is similar in both, blackish with most of 

 the two outer pair of feathers white. Both have a black throat* 



