I40 PIED WAGTAIL. 



along the Suffolk coast between Southwold and Lowes- 

 toft. These low cliffs seem completely riddled in parts. 

 I recollect a young sailor telling me that, when a lad, 

 he would take a long stick with a hook at the end, and 

 carry home hundreds of their eggs of a morning and 

 boil them for breakfast. It seems almost incredible 

 that these holes, sometimes as much as four feet in 

 length, can be bored by such a small, weak little thing 

 as the Sand Martin. It works entirely with closed 

 beak, shovelling out the loosened sand with its feet. 

 The tunnel slopes gently in an upward direction, and 

 tow^ards the end opens out into a small chamber in 

 which the nest is placed. Some of the passages are 

 straight; others, where perhaps a stone or other obstacle 

 has been encountered, bend off at an angle. The same 

 hole is used several years in succession. 



The nest is very slight, built of a few straws and 

 grass and lined with some feathers. Eggs will be 

 found at the end of May or the beginning of June. 

 They are perfectly white, four to six in number, with 

 very thin shells, so that when fresh the yolk showing 

 through gives them a beautiful pink tint. 



Unlike the House Martin, this bird is entirely free 

 from feathers on its feet. 



PIED WAGTAIL. 



MOTACILLA YARRELLII. 

 Family Passerid^. Sub-family Motacillin.^. Genus Mota- 



CILLA. 



Water Wagtail — Polly Dishwasher — Nanny Washtail — Black 

 and W^hite Wagtail. 



The Pied Wagtail is the commonest of our Wag- 

 tails and is distributed all over the British Isles. 



