The Grey Wagtail. 185 



female bird) built in a furrow of a ploughed field near the creek at Kemsle}^ close 

 to Sheppe3^* This nest is constructed of root fibre, interwoven with coarse dry- 

 grass, cow-, and horse-hair ; the lining being very thick, and formed of black 

 horse-hair, white cow-hair, and wool. The usual materials, according to Seebohm, 

 are fine roots, with a few stalks of dry grass in the outer and coarser portions, 

 and a lining of cow-hair, the preference being given to white ; Howard Saunders 

 adds moss to the outer walls, and does not specify the nature or colour of the 

 hair-lining ; Lord Lilford sa3's that it " much resembles that of the Pied Wagtail, 

 but is considerably smaller": other authorities mention feathers as forming 

 part of the lining, but Wagtails are not much addicted to the use of such 

 material. 



The eggs, according to several authorities, are smaller than those of the 

 Yellow Wagtail ; although the Grey Wagtail is by far the larger bird : in my nest, 

 however, the eggs were fully as large as the largest eggs of the Pied Wagtail, 

 and in my opinion Lord Lilford's description is most likely to be accurate ; at any 

 rate it exactly accords with ni}' solitary experience : — " The eggs are usually five 

 in number, of a creamy white, closely blotched or clouded with pale yellowish- 

 brown, and may be distinguished from those of the commoner Yellow Wagtail 

 ^Motacilla raii) by their larger size and the absence of the hair-like dark streaks 

 which in most cases are found on the eggs of the latter bird." Unless a man 

 not only takes the nest himself, but actually sees the parent bird leave it, the 

 nest alone is not sufficient evidence on which to identify the eggs of one of these 

 yellow species of Wagtail ; yet there is no doubt that, in many cases, their iden- 

 tification rests upon no better basis than the assertions of rristics, who almost 

 invariably confound the Grey Wagtail with the Yellow. 



The food of the Grey Wagtail consists largely of insects, their larvse, centi- 

 pedes, spiders, and small mollusca ; but in winter the last-mentioned, small worms, 

 and a few seeds of weeds are eaten. 



My first experience of this charming bird in captivity, was in September, 

 1888, when a friend netted two females and gave them to me ; I turned them, at 

 first, into a large cage, but one of them refused to eat, and died the following 

 day : the other bird I transferred to a large aviar}^, where, in three days, it became 

 so tame that it not only took mealworms from my fingers, but ran between my 

 feet as I stood in the aviary ; moreover within a year it followed me about ; and 

 whenever I passed by the aviary, it flew up to the wire and called me. Unhappil}? 

 I turned in a cock Pied Wagtail with it, and the latter bird so persecuted the 



* This nest was first observed bj- the plough-boy whilst guiding his horses, and knowing that I was 

 collecting nests and eggs he carefully avoided it, so that it lay on the side of the furrow, a clod of earth 



partly protecting it. 



