186 BIRDS OF SOMERSETSHIRE. 
was occupied by braziers, and the noise produced 
by the men was loud and incessant. The nest was 
built near the wheel of a lathe, which revolved 
within a foot of it. In this strange situation the 
bird hatched four young ones; but the male, not 
having accustomed himself to such company, instead 
of feeding the nestlings himself, as is usual, carried 
such food as he collected to a certain spot on the 
roof, where he left it, and from whence it was borne 
by his mate to the young.” Another curious place 
is mentioned in the ‘ Zoologist’ for 1863, namely, a 
Swallow’s nest, the Swallows themselves not being 
allowed even to build another nest in the same 
chimney. 
The plumage of the Pied Wagtail varies much 
according to the age of the bird and the time of the 
year. The adult bird in spring has the beak almost 
black; irides black; forehead, cheeks, ear-coverts 
and sides of the neck white; top of the head, nape, 
back, scapulars and tail-coverts black; the lesser 
wing-coverts black, tipped with white; greater wing- 
coverts broadly edged and tipped with white; quills 
black, narrowly margined with white, the tertials 
broadly so; the outside tail-feathers on each side 
white, the rest black; throat and breast black; the 
rest of the under parts white; legs, toes and claws 
black. The adult female at this time of the year is 
much the same in plumage, except that the black on 
the back is not so pure, being slightly mixed with 
