MOTACILLWM— WAGTAILS. 



97 



though I have never personally identified it with certainty, and the 

 only actual record of its appearance here I have been able to meet 

 with is the following : 



Mr. Joseph Clarke, writing at Saffron Walden about 1845, says (24) of the 

 "Pale Wagtail, Mot. alha, Tem.," that it "breeds here occasionally. A whole 

 brood of five, with the old one feeding them, seen at Wenden, 1836, by S. Salmon 

 and self." It has also been known to breed in several other southern counties. 



Canon Babington says (46. 248) that two specimens, one in winter, the other 

 in summer plumage, which " were in all probability obtained in the neighbour- 

 hood of Sudbury," are in the King Collection, passing as Pied Wagtails, 



Pied Wagtail : Motacilla lugubris. Locally, " Nanny Wag- 

 tail," and " Dish-washer." 



A common resident, though partially migratory, most of our 

 birds going south dur- 

 ing winter. 



Mr. Buxton says (47. 

 89) that in Epping Forest 

 it is " a common resident." 

 He adds : " The greater 

 number go south, to return 

 about the end of P'ebruary, 

 dressed in their summer 

 plumage. Those that re- 

 main with us, retain their 

 winter garb until the spring is farther advanced." Many certainly do leave us in 

 winter, but not all, as I saw one here on December 8th, 1879, the day after the 

 very severe frost. Mr. E. Gottwaltz records (29. Feb. $, 1876) that for three 

 winters one amused itself almost daily by tapping on a window of a house at 

 Great Baddow, a strange proceeding which has before been recorded of this and 

 other species. 



Grey Wagtail : Motacilla melanope. 

 An uncommon autumn and winter visitor. 

 of its having ever bred with us. 



Mr. Seebohm says (45. ii. p. 

 204): 



" I first became acquainted with 

 these charming birds in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Saffron Walden. Be- 

 tween this town and Audley End 

 lies Lord Bra^^brooke's Park. A 

 winding brook runs through it, by 

 the margin of which you might 

 stroll any winter's morning with 

 the certainty of seeing one or two 

 pairs of Grey Wagtails. They 

 were regular winter migrants, ap- 

 pearing about the beginning of 

 October and disappearing as regu- 

 larly towards the end of March." 



PIED WAGTAIL, J{. 



{After Bewick.) 



I have no knowledge 



GREY WAGTAIL, male in summer, ^. 

 H 



