WHITE WAGTAIL. 167 
Kurope, taking there the place, as regards numbers, which 
the Pied Wagtail holds with us; the latter being the less 
common species there, as the former is here. It is plentiful 
from Iceland, Sweden, and Norway, to Malta and Sicily, Crete 
and Corfu; and is also a native of Asia and of Africa. 
Like its predecessor, this species is to be met with almost 
everywhere at times—on the open moor and in the well-cul- 
tivated garden; by the side of the rapid mountain stream and 
the slow and sluggish river; the shore of the boundless 
ocean, and the estuaries which lead to and from it. Arable 
and pasture land, if indeed the herbage of the latter be short, 
are both alike to it; the gravel walk and the well-kept lawn, 
the village street, and even that of the larger town, the farm- 
yard pond, and the running rill of the most sequestered dell. 
In autumn they migrate, the young accompanying their 
parents in their travels, seeking the warmer countries for their 
winter sojourn, after having enlivened the colder districts in 
the summer. 
These Wagtails may frequently be seen in summer time 
bathing and washing themselves upon some shallow shore. 
They also, like the other kind, delight at times in running 
along the tops of houses, walls, and buildings, and perch on 
stacks of wood, and piles of stones; doubtless they ‘find good 
in everything.’ At night they roost among branches of low 
trees, as also among reeds and various kinds ef brushwood; 
and are said to collect together for the purpose in considerable 
numbers, and with some degree of clamour. They are ever 
active and restless by day, and would seem to have discovered 
the great secret of ‘perpetual motion.’ They run along the 
ground with a quickness whose steps the eye cannot follow, 
and this from morning to night, with but very few intervals 
of equivocal rest. Their heads too, as well as. their tails, are 
in motion, thew legs and their whole bodies. Often they 
may be seen chasing each other in some fitful humour, and 
again uniting with aliens in attempting to repel some common 
foe. One of these birds has been noticed by M. Julian Deby 
to come for a month to a window, knocking itself against 
the pane of glass. Another similar instance has been recorded 
by James Cornish, Esq., of Black Hall, Devonshire. A Wagtail 
came in the like way to his window, and after some days it 
was opened to let him in; he became very tame, and used 
to alight even on the dressing-glass, which he took apparent 
pleasure in inspecting himself in: his mate would not venture 
