124 Messrs. H. Seebohm and J. A. Harvie Brown on 



Tlic Yellow-headed Wagtail's favourite haunts are the opens 

 in the willow-thickets; and in such localities they literally 

 swarm and are excessively tame. They perch on the tops of 

 the bushes^ often sitting in a peculiar bunched-up jiosition, 

 fly round an intruder in circles, or hover overhead, much after 

 the manner of the other Wagtails or Pipits, and utter their 

 monotonous chirping note, which, when often repeated, runs 

 into a confused song. As many as a dozen were sometimes 

 in the air at one time, above and around us. They often 

 came from a distance towards us and followed us, accom- 

 panying us off their premises, until relieved by a fresh relay. 

 Their general habits closely resemble those of the last species. 

 The nests are carefully concealed amongst the tangled grass 

 and wild flowers, which usually cover the dryer open spaces, 

 and are composed of fine grasses, lined with reindeer's hair 

 and roots or fibres. One we examined, whether by accident 

 or design, contained two Pintail's feathers and one spray of 

 Duck's down. The nests are difficult to find, owing to the 

 males giving the females early warning of the approach of 

 danger, and the above-mentioned habit of flying overhead 

 and constantly uttering their alarm-notes and perseveringly 

 convoying the intruder as long as he is in the vicinity, in 

 which the females also take part. The thick nature of the 

 undergrowth makes it a difficult matter to watch the female 

 to the nest. At the distance of a few yards it would be almost 

 impossible. The eggs closely resemble the eggs of other 

 Wagtails of the Budytes group. 



Concerning the migration of this species on the Kama 

 river and near Kasan, the editors of the " Descriptive Cata- 

 logues of the High School of the Imperial University of 

 Kasan " inform us that it arrives there when the other Wag- 

 tails have young, about the middle of April, and that a few 

 pairs are seen as late as the beginning of June (new style) . 

 The migratory flocks in all probability pass on down the river 

 Petchora from the head-waters of the Kama as far as list 

 Ussa, then, leaving the banks of the river and crossing over 

 the intervening country, reach it again somewhere north of 

 Ust Zylma, the neighbourhood of which town they do not 



