32 THE SMALLER BRITISH BIRDS. 



brownisTi white, sprinkled over with grey, pale rust-colour, or yellow- 

 ish brown; some are nearly plain, of a dull yellow colour, slightly 

 marked; their form is a lougish oval. About May the young birds 

 are ready to fly. 



WAGTAILS IN CONFINEMENT. 



Bechstein describes only three species of Wagtails, viz. : the common 

 Pied, the Grey, and the Yellow; and yet the White Wagtail, which 

 our naturalists mostly speak of as a continental species, must have been 

 known to him. Probably he, with some others, did not look upon 

 this as a distinct species, but merely a variety of the common kind, 

 to which Linnaeus applies the scientific name M. alba. 



Then again, the Grey-headed Wagtail, of which he does not speak, 

 is said to be common in Germany, and there seems to be nothing in 

 the nature and habits of the bird to prevent its being as suitable an 

 inhabitant of the cage or aviary as any of its congeners. In our 

 account of the Pied species, we have already quoted his high opinion 

 of that bird as a feathered pet; and all the members of the family 

 are evidently great favourites with him, as they deserve to be, for 

 they are very beautiful and attractive birds, lively and yet gentle, and 

 not difficult to tame. If taken when grown up they should be fed 

 upon ants' eggs, mealworms, or insects of some kind, or they will be 

 likely to pine and die. After awhile they will take freely bread and 

 meat cut small, or shredded, and the universal paste, with which a 

 little hard-boiled egg, chopped small, should be mixed. If confined 

 in a cage it should be a large one, with a water-vessel of sufficient 

 size for them to bathe in during the warm weather; but it is best 

 to let them have the run of a spare room or of the aviary, in which 

 they live in great friendliness with the other birds, and help to give 

 a very pleasing variety. 



Diarrhffia and atrophy, or wasting away, are the diseases from which 

 they mostly suffer. Water impregnated with the rust of iron, and 

 plenty of fresh insect food, are the best remedies; but birds attacked 

 with either of these diseases seldom recover. 



