i88 The Blup:-Headed Wagtail. 



autumn than in spring ; but even during the latter season, if the weather is toler- 

 ably favourable, flocks of hundreds may be seen covering the sheep pastures." 



W. Warde Fowler, in his "Summer Studies of Birds and Books" saj's: — "A 

 few of these seem to come to us every year ; and just as it is worth while always 

 to look at Pied Wagtails to make sure that the}^ are not White Wagtails, so it is 

 as well to glance at all yellow birds we see, in case we should some day meet 

 w-ith one that has a distinctly bluish head, and a white stripe over the eye instead 

 of a yellow one. A beginner, indeed, may easily confuse the female of the common 

 species for the rarity he is looking out for ; and he should never be satisfied until 

 he has watched his bird at a very short distance, and if possible with a good field- 

 glass.* Though Oxford is a favourite haunt of Yellow Wagtails, I have in the 

 course of many years detected but two or three of the rarer species." 



Charles Dixon says that he met with the Blue-headed Wagtail in Algeria "in 

 flocks in the oases, apparently on migration, in Ma}-." (Birds of Algeria, p. 65). 

 Occurring there so late in the year, one would almost expect that a few pairs 

 would breed there, as the}' are known to do in North-eastern Africa (cf. Seebohm, 

 Hist. British Birds, Vol. II, p. 209.) 



Nidification takes place with this species between the middle of May and the 

 first week of June ; the nest being placed on the ground amongst coarse herbage, 

 frequently under a tuft of grass in meadows or cornfields, sometimes in the bank 

 of a dry ditch : it is somewhat loosely constructed of fine rootlets, grass, straws, 

 and bents, sometimes with an admixture of moss ; and is lined with horse-hair, 

 wool, or fine bents ; occasionally with wool and a few downy feathers. The eggs 

 number from four to six, and are either pale yellowish brown, with a fine black 

 streak on the larger end, or yellowish white, mottled and clouded with pale browTi, 

 both types with intermediate grades sometimes occurring in the same clutch. 



The food of this Wagtail consists of insects and their larvae, spiders, centipedes, 

 and small freshwater niollusca : but in confinement it would doubtless feed on the 

 usual soft food, like all its congeners, and would make a most desirable and 

 interesting addition to an aviar}'. 



• RxceptiiiK when collecting ucsts av.d ejJKS in ilense woods, where il was often necessary to force my way 

 through liranible an<l hawthorn. I usually carried a ]iowerful little x'ass in my pocket: this eiialiled me, not 

 only to rccojjiiize s|icci'.s, hut to watch the birds to their nests. — A G. b. 



