The Pied Wagtail. 179 



ridge of a roof, a stone coping, or an old wall, catching the flies as they start up 

 at its approach, and frequently uttering its cheerful little cry " chizzic," as each 

 new victim is perceived : whether this is its call-note or the shrill monosyllabic 

 short whistle (into which the bird can throw so much expression that it almost 

 seems to speak) I do not know for certain, but I am inclined, from long study of 

 this species in captivity, to believe that " chizzic'' is merely a cry of excitement. 



The Pied Wagtail usually builds its nest in hollows in banks, sides of deserted 

 chalk-pits, Sand-Martin's holes, gaps in brickwork under rustic bridges, in a hole 

 in a wall just above water, or a crevice in a rock ; but it sometimes places it in 

 gnarled roots of trees, in faggot-stacks, in ivy on the top of a low wall, and I 

 once took one formed in a deserted Blackbird's nest built in ivy on the top of 

 the trunk of a branchless oak. Nidificatiou lasts from April to June, but most 

 nests may be found towards the end of May : indeed my experience would incline 

 me to regard noue of the Wagtails as early breeders, though forward individuals 

 may be ready to nest in April. 



The nest is coustructed of dry bents, rootlets, and a little moss, and is 

 thickly lined with wool, or feathers and hair : it is somewhat large and shallow 

 in character, frequently with one side higher than the other, if it be possible for 

 a circular rim to have sides. The eggs vary in number from four to six, the 

 latter being a frequent clutch ; in colouring they are tolerably uniform, differing 

 chiefly in the paler or darker ground tint (though it is always light) and more or 

 less heavy speckling at the larger end ; the ground colour is either a greenish- 

 white or pale greenish- grey, the speckling is grey or smoky-brown (a few of the 

 dots often approaching black) some of the markings being more prominent than 

 others. The House-Sparrow sometimes la3'S a similar egg, only generally of a 

 more elongated shape. 



The Pied Wagtail is largely insectivorous ; but, in addition to insects, their 

 larvae, spiders, centipedes, and (according to the late Mr. Booth) the ova of a small 

 crab, I believe that in the winter seeds are swallowed by it. At any rate this is 

 certainly the case in an aviary, though not often. 



In September, 1888, I purchased my first captive Pied Wagtail from a bird- 

 catcher. It was decidedly a domineering bird, and was long before it became 

 tame, knocking out all its tail-feathers in the first few months of its confinement 

 in a large aviar}^ nor did it recover them until the following July : it lived 

 about eighteen months, after it had starved my hen Grey Wagtail to death by 

 incessantly driving it from the soft food. 



In June or July, 1892, a nest of six of these birds was shown to me in a 

 field a short distance from my house; the site for the nest was rather curious: a 



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