PIED WAGTAIL. 229 



refer to the changes of plumage, from the young to the adult 

 state, and the winter to the summer tints. Sometimes in sum- 

 mer the back is entirely black ; but generally there is more or 

 less grey upon it. Even in winter I have seen it almost all 

 black. Two large and apparently old males in my collection 

 have the whole of the back deep black, with scarcely any tinge 

 of grey. Albino individuals have been met with. Frequently 

 adults have some yellow on the lower parts. 



Changes. — This species moults from the end of summer to 

 that of autumn, the new or winter plumage being complete by 

 the end of October. I have found it so occasionally even by 

 the end of August. In February another moult commences, 

 and is completed by the middle of April. The feathers on the 

 throat are first renewed, then those on the head, hind-neck, 

 sides, back and lower parts in succession ; but the quills and 

 tail-feathers are not changed. 



Habits. — The places usually frequented by this beautiful bird 

 are the margins of streams, ditches, pools, and lakes. Towards 

 the end of July, when the cares of rearing their young are over, 

 they betake themselves in great numbers to the mouths of rivers, 

 especially such as have marshy meadows along their sides, or 

 muddy expanses to which the tides have access. Often one may 

 see them wading in shallow places in quest of insects and worms, 

 carefully holding up their tail to prevent its being draggled. If 

 you watch the motions of an individual just coming up to join 

 the party, you see it alight abruptly, twittering its shrill notes, 

 and perching on a small stone, incessantly vibrate its body, and 

 jerk out its tail. It now perhaps walks out into the water, and 

 searches for food, or finding none flies to the shore, and runs 

 along with great rapidity, stopping and stooping now and then 

 to pick up a tiny wormlet, and momentarily spreading out its 

 ever-vibrating tail. Its light footsteps leave no impression on 

 the soft sand, and if it walk out upon the mud you wonder that 

 its little toes do not get clogged ; yet so rapid are its motions 

 that it never sinks in the mire, and when the latter becomes 

 too soft, it aids itself with its wings, or flies to a place where it 



