WHITE WAGTAIL. 123 



some years by a pair of Swallows, and in spite of endeavours 

 to dislodge them they retained possession and reared their 

 young. On the Wolds of the East Riding a favourite site 

 for nesting is in the chalk-pits. 



Vernacular names are — Water Wagtail and Black and 

 White Wagtail (general) ; Seed Bird (Willughby, 1678 ; and 

 in Wharfedale) ; Watterty or Watterty-wag (Huddersfield 

 district) ; Willy Wagtail (Thirsk and East Riding) ; Water 

 Waggy (Cleveland) ; Peggy Dish-wash (North Riding) ; 

 Bessie Ducker (Huddersfield). 



WHITE WAGTAIL. 

 Motacilla alba (Z.). 



Bird of passage in spring, of uncommon occurrence. 



The first published reference to the White Wagtail in 

 Yorkshire is contained in the Zoologist (1848, p. 2229), where 

 J. S. Webb recorded having seen a single bird close to York 

 on July the 13th of that year. 



Although there are comparatively few early records of 

 this bird, which is the Continental form of our common 

 Pied species, there is every reason to believe that it has been 

 overlooked, and is a regular though scarce visitor on spring 

 migration, its appearance usually coinciding with the arrival 

 of the bulk of the Pied Wagtails in April. The first Yorkshire 

 notice is that by J. S. Webb quoted above. Seven years 

 subsequently the late Alfred Roberts {op. cit. 1855, p. 4631) 

 reported one shot at Deepdale near Scarborough on 23rd 

 January 1855, which, if correct, is the only winter occurrence 

 that I am aware of. In 1866 a pair were noticed in company 

 with Pied Wagtails on the banks of the Calder, on March 

 the 25th, while a second pair were met with on Brierly Common 

 where the nest is said to have been found (" Birds of Wake- 

 field," 1876) ; and Thos. Lister recorded an example in May 

 1874, near Huddersfield. On the river Wharfe, near Bolton 

 Abbey, the White Wagtail was noted on 12th April 1879, 



