344 THE PIED WAGTAIL. 



Sub-Family. Motacillina. Genus, Motacilla. 



We have three British wagtails, the black and white, or 

 pied ; the grey and white ; and the grey and yellow. They 

 are very active, especially in running after insects, and short 

 quick sallies on wing. They are handsome birds, have long tails, 

 from the perpetual motion of which they receive their name of 

 wagtail. Their flight is rapid, and has the most typical 

 undulation of all our birds. I have seen all three — summer 

 and winter — at the Kinness Burn, near the harbour. 



The Pied Wagtail, or Water Wagtail, or Yarrel's 

 Wagtail. 



(Motacilla Alba.) Linn. 



" These find, 'mid ivied Abbey walls, 



A canopy in some still nook ; 



Others are pent — housed by a brae 



That overhangs a brook." — Wordsworth. 



This is the most common of our wagtails. It is found chiefly 

 with us about the Kinness and Swilcan Burns, the east and west 

 sands, Kinkell Braes ; but it is broadcast, like the flies, and 

 found most where flies are most. I have seen it in May 

 running in the gutter opposite my window in Market Street 

 catching flies. It frequents margins of burns, rivers, ponds, or 

 meadows, and the sea beach. In early spring a partial 

 migration goes on from south to north. I have seen them in 

 March, after a north-easterly gale, as if they had been driven 

 back on their way north. To corroborate this, the Scotsman of 

 date March 17th, 1888, says :— 



"At 6.30 p.m. to-day a large assemblage of pied wagtails (Motacilla 

 Alba) settled on the General Post Office in Edinburgh for the night ; there 

 were sixty in one row on a narrow ridge to the west of the building, 

 sheltered from the violent east wind, which had brought such a heavy 

 snow-storm a few hours before. In the interstices of the stone fret-work 

 over one hundred more were sitting. The pied wagtail is resident with us 



