"WHITE WAGTAIL. 43 



But, in a very large proportion of the collection of birds 

 made by the cottagers, and used to ornament their 

 dwellings, examples of this species, both in summer and 

 winter dress, may be seen, and a more thorough apprecia- 

 tion of the differences in plumage between it and the 

 commoner bird, would no doubt increase very much the 

 number of recorded occurrences. In Hewitson's " Eggs 

 of British Birds " (3rd edit., 1856), Mr. Samuel Carter 

 of Manchester says that he has seen White Wagtails 

 near that city, generally in ploughed fields, and rarely 

 by the side of water, and continues : " I have also seen 

 them at Turton, a small village between Bolton and 

 Blackburn, and though there is a large lake of water in 

 the neighbourhood, in which I have frequently fished, 

 I never saw one of these birds by its edge, but frequently 

 the pied." The same gentleman, writing to the Zoohuiist 

 (1857, p. 5517), also says that it appears near Manchester 

 in spring and autumn, but that he has never heard of 

 its breeding in the neighbourhood, nor has he met with 

 it in winter. Mr. John Hardy, who, with a collector 

 named Edward Jacques, accompanied Mr. Carter when 

 the nest spoken of by Hewitson was taken at Holme 

 (not Whittlesea), in Hunts, tells me that it occurs every 

 summer in the district south-west of Manchester, and 

 that several good specimens are in the collection at 

 Queen's Park there. He says that Jacques, who was a 

 clever mounter of small Inrds, distributed many White 

 Wagtails shot by himself and others. I am informed by 

 Mr. K. Davenport that one was killed at Bradshaw Fold, 

 near Middleton, by Mr. J. Holland, in April, 1870, and 

 another on Jul}' 8th in the same year near Bury 

 reservoir by Mr. F. Gates. Mr. J. B. Hodgkinson has 

 no doubt of its breeding near Preston, and says there is 

 a specimen in the museum there shot on the Eibble 



