PIED WAGTAIL. I05 



Ley still in the dull unmoulted dress, but it was some weeks 

 later before "clean" birds reached Cheshire. The spring 

 flocks feed in the fields with Meadow-Pipits and Reed-Buntings, 

 their travelling companions, and at night roost with these birds 

 in reed-beds or other waterside vegetation. On the ploughed 

 land they are conspicuous, as the very black and white males 

 run for a moment along a ridge, then dip out of sight into a 

 furrow, or take short bounding wave-like flights, with frequent 

 calls of tschizzik^ to overtake the plough. When gathering 

 at the roost a few male birds often join in a short evensong, 

 simple but melodious, a twittering chorus not unlike that of the 

 Swallow. 



The bank of a stream, especially where herbage overhangs, 

 is a common site for the nest ; but it is often built in a hole in 

 a building or rocks, amongst the roots of a tree, or even under 

 a clod in an open field ; as a rule it is sheltered or concealed. 

 In one instance it was built between two railway sleepers, 

 many trains daily passing over the rail which formed the 

 shelter. Occasionally the old nest of some other bird provides 

 the necessary hollow ; that of a Magpie in a tree being on 

 record, and I have known it use one deserted by a Dipper. 

 Grass, roots and leaves are firmly matted together, the bulk 

 varied according to the accommodation, and the nest lining is 

 of hair or wool, with often a few feathers. The eggs, generally 

 four to six, are finely speckled with ashy grey on a whitish 

 ground, but are subject to variation (Plate 41), and may be 

 boldly streaked or have a few irregular hair-lines ; they are laid 

 in April, and second or third broods are reared. 



One point about the plumage, which is described under 

 White Wagtail, is misleading in many text-books ; the back 

 of the male is said to be grey in winter. Mr. C. B. Moffat tells 

 me that in Ireland many do not become grey, and I have seen 

 males here which were black, though not so deep a black as in 

 spring. Mr. Witherby puts it more clearly when he points out 



