YELLOW WAGTAIL. 215 
it is generally made of dry grass or twitch. Mr. J. Cullingford writes 
to me respecting the nest of this bird in South Lincolnshire :—“ This 
is a bird whose nest varies very much, and scarcely ever do you 
find two nests made of the same materials, even if within fifty yards of 
each other. I have had some lined with feathers, some with hair, and 
some with roots.” The eggs are five or six in number, greyish white 
in ground-colour, very thickly mottled and speckled with pale brown or 
olive-brown, often so thickly as to hide all traces of the ground-colour. 
Many specimens have one or two rich blackish-brown streaks on the larger 
end. The eggs in a clutch in my collection from Hickling Broad are 
suffused with a delicate rosy tinge. Many of the eggs of this bird cannot 
with certainty be distinguished from those of the Sedge-Warbler, and it is 
absolutely impossible to separate them from those of the Blue-headed 
Wagtail. They vary in length from ‘82 to *73 inch, and in breadth 
from ‘63 to ‘55 inch. The young are tended by the old birds for a 
short time after they leave the nest, when they are left to take care of 
themselves, and their parents rear a second brood, always building a fresh 
nest for the purpose. 
The Yellow Wagtail feeds on insects, grubs, and small worms; it also 
eats a considerable number of small beetles, for it seems to search the 
stems and leaves of vegetation more closely than its congeners do. It 
may also be seen repeatedly amongst the droppings of the cattle—places 
where considerable numbers of beetles may be found. In spring it 
searches eagerly for larvee of different kinds. 
When the second broods are capable of taking care of themselves, Yellow 
Wagtails often congregate into flocks of considerable size and wander 
away from their usual haunts. In autumn numbers of these birds may be 
seen at the mouths of tidal rivers, doubtless following the stream to the 
sea. These flocks have congregated for the purpose of migrating to their 
winter-quarters. Many birds leave us in September; others remain 
lingering in seductive haunts until October ere they pass southwards. It 
is, however, a fact that this bird does not entirely quit our shores in 
winter. Dixon has repeatedly seen it in the depth of winter in the 
hardest weather, frequenting the banks of running streams; and when 
the snow has been lying inches deep, he has noticed this gay little bird 
tripping over the frosted surface apparently as much at ease as if on 
the summer pastures. Macgillivray states that it leaves Scotland about 
the middle of August. It is very common on the south coast -at the 
periods of migration, probably crossing the channel at its narrowest part. 
The aduit male Yellow Wagtail in breeding-plumage has the general colour 
of the upper parts yellowish green, brightest on the forehead and darkest on 
the upper tail-coverts; the wings, wing-coverts, and tail scarcely differ in 
colour from those of the other British Wagtails. A streak over the eye 
