YELLOW WAGTAIL. I09 



lating flight. The activities of the parents are most noticeable 

 when flycatching for the nesthngs ; the birds fill their beaks 

 with flies, yet always seem able to snatch another without drop- 

 ping any of their load. They visit manure heaps in the farms 

 and fields, hovering above them, dancing in the air, snapping 

 right and left ; they run across the floating weeds on ponds, 

 fluttering their wings when in danger of sinking or taking a 

 flight of a few feet. When on the ground the expressive tail 

 is ever in motion and the head moves rhythmically with the 

 rapid steps ; when alighting after a flight the .tail is elevated 

 and spread. 



The nest, of grass, moss or any convenient material, and 

 lined with hair, fur, rootlets or feathers, is built on the ground 

 in a meadow or cornfield, and is usually partially sheltered by 

 a clod of earth or clump of grass ; in some districts potato 

 fields are favoured, the nests being on the slope of the furrow. 

 The eggs are laid in April, a second clutch following the first ; 

 four or six is the number, and they are densely speckled with 

 reddish brown or grey, usually with one or more hair-lines near 

 the larger end (Plate 41) ; they vary, but all types are repre- 

 sented amongst the eggs of the Blue-headed Wagtail, from 

 which they cannot be distinguished. 



The male in spring is greenish olive on the upper parts, 

 yellowest on the tail-coverts, with brown-black wings and tail, 

 the former with huffish edges, forming bars, and the latter 

 with the two outer pair of feathers mainly white. Above and 

 below the eye and the whole of the under parts are canary- 

 yellow ; the bill and legs are black and the irides hazel. The 

 female is browner, her eye-stripe and wang-bars are buff", and 

 her chin and throat whitish ; her under parts are paler. In 

 autumn, when flocks are passing preparatory to departure in 

 September or October, the general colour of the old birds is 

 paler and of the young browner, with buff tinged chins and 

 buff breasts. Few birds, however, are subject to more variation ; 



