160 BIRDS OF NOKPOLK. 



Tittered of an evening, with various modulations, after 

 tlie lamp was lighted in tlie room where they were kept, 

 was excessively sweet and pleasing. In their actions they 

 somewhat reminded me of starlings, playfully snapping 

 at one another with their beaks, as they sat side by side, 

 and occasionally in the most affectionate manner taking 

 food from one another's mouths. The male when thus 

 excited with play was a very striking object, his whole 

 figure full of life and vigour, being drawn up as if stand- 

 ing on tip-toe, with the crest elevated and curving for- 

 wards. At times he would amuse as well as exercise him- 

 self, by hopping sideways on his perch in a very droll 

 manner, and when alarmed by a visitor, or listening to 

 any strange sound, his expression of curiosity (the head 

 and neck being stretched out to the fullest extent), mixed 

 with a queer pert manner, was extremely comic. The 

 loss of his mate, however, seemed greatly to affect his 

 spirits, and during my absence from home in the 

 following May, he also died, to my great regret, but 

 whether from pining, or from neglect on the part of my 

 servants, I am unable to say. 



MOTACILLA YARRELLI, Gould. 

 PIED WAGTAIL. 



Resident with us throughout the year, — since, though 

 the majority of our home-bred birds leave us for a time 

 in mid- winter, a few are still met with during the most 

 severe weather, — the Pied Wagtail, with its neat plumage 

 and elegant form, is associated with the enjoyment of our 

 out-door recreations at all seasons. Never far away 

 from the vicinity of water, if only a pond or a little run 

 by the roadside, we find it about our homes and in the 

 open country. Running here and there on our lawns and 



