THE PIED WAGTAIL 



it visits manj' of our English counties. Its nest has been found in 

 such odd places as a Sand Martin's burrow and the middle of a 

 strawberry bed. The present editor has seen it nesting among the 

 spraying branches of a Virginian creeper growing over trellis work. 

 A beautiful little bird it is. 



THE PIED WAGTAIL 



MOTACILLA LUGUBRIS 



Sitmmcr — all the plumage variegated with white and l)lack ; back and scapulars, 

 chin, throat, and neck black ; a small portion of the side of the neck 

 white. Winter — back and scapulars ash-grey ; chin and throat white, 

 with a black, but not entirely isolated, gorget. Length seven inches and 

 a half. Eggs bluish white, speckled with dark grey. 



The Pied Wagtail or Dishwasher is a familiar and favourite bird, 

 best known by its habit of frequenting the banks of ponds and 

 streams, where it runs, not hops about, picking insects from the 

 herbage, and frequently rising with a sliort jerking flight, to capture 

 some winged insect, which its quick eye has detected hovering in 

 the air. Its simple song consists of but few notes, but the tone is 

 sweet and pleasing, and is frequently heard M^hen the bird is cleaving 

 its way through the air with its peculiar flight, in which it describes 

 a series of arcs, as if it were every instant on the point of alighting, 

 but had altered its mind. While hunting for food, it keeps its tail 

 in perpetual motion. It shows little fear of man, and frequently 

 approaches his dwelling. It may often be noticed running rapidly 

 along the tiles or thatch of a country house, and it not unfrequently 

 takes its station on the point of a gable, or the ridge of the roof, and 

 rehearses its song again and again. Very frequently, too, it perches 

 in trees, especially such as are in the vicinity of ponds. Next to 

 watery places, it delights in newly-ploughed fields, and hunts for 

 insects on the ground, utterly fearless of the ploughman and his 

 implements. A newly-mown garden lawn is another favourite 

 resort ; so also is a meadow in which cows are feeding, and to these 

 it is most serviceable, running in and out between their legs, and 

 catching, in a short time, an incredible number of flies. The country 

 scarcely furnishes a prettier sight than that afforded by a family of 

 Wagtails on the short grass of a park, in July or August. A party 

 of five or six imperfectly fledged birds may often be seen scattered 

 over a small space of ground, running about with great activity, 

 and picking up insects, wliile the parent birds perform short aerial 

 journeys above and ar<nmd tliem, frequently alighting, and trans- 

 ferring from their own mouths to those of their offspring, each in its 

 turn, the insects they have just captured. They are at all times 

 sociably disposed, being seen sometimes in small parties, and 

 sometimes in large flocks. It has been noticed that when one of a 



