i88 The Blue-Headed Wagtail. 



autumn thau in spring ; but even during the latter season, if the weather is toler- 

 ably favourable, flocks of hundreds may be seen covering the sheep pastures." 



W. Warde Fowler, in his "Summer Studies of Birds and Books" says: — "A 

 few of these seem to come to us ever}^ year; and just as it is worth while alwaj'S 

 to look at Pied Wagtails to make sure that they are not White Wagtails, so it is 

 as well to glance at all yellow birds we see, in case we should some day meet 

 with one that has a distinctly bluish head, and a white stripe over the eye instead 

 of a yellow one. A beginner, indeed, may easily confuse the female of the common 

 species for the rarity he is looking out for ; and he should never be satisfied until 

 he has watched his bird at a very short distance, and if possible with a good field- 

 glass.* Though Oxford is a favourite haunt of Yellow Wagtails, I have in the 

 course of mau}^ j^ears detected but two or three of the rarer species." 



Charles Dixon says that he met with the Blue-headed Wagtail in Algeria "in 

 flocks in the oases, apparently on migration, in Ma}'." (Birds of Algeria, p. 65). 

 Occurring there so late in the 3^ear, one would almost expect that a few pairs 

 would breed there, as they are known to do in North-eastern Africa (cf. Seebohm, 

 Hist. Brirish Birds, Vol. H, p. 209.) 



Nidificatiou takes place with this species between the middle of May and the 

 first week of June ; the nest being placed on the ground amongst coarse herbage, 

 frequently under a tuft of grass in meadows or cornfields, sometimes in the bank 

 of a drjr ditch : it is somewhat loosely constructed of fine rootlets, grass, straws, 

 and bents, sometimes with an admixture of moss ; and is lined with horse-hair, 

 wool, or fine bents ; occasionally with wool and a few downy feathers. The eggs 

 number from four to six, and are either pale yellowish brown, with a fine black 

 streak on the larger end, or 5-ellowish white, mottled and clouded with pale brown, 

 both types with intermediate grades sometimes occurring in the same clutch. 



The food of this Wagtail consists of insects and their larvae, spiders, centipedes, 

 and small freshwater mollusca : but in confinement it would doubtless feed on the 

 usual soft food, like all its congeners, and would make a most desirable and 

 interesting addition to an aviary. 



• E.KceptiiiR when collecting nests and eggs in dense woods, wliere it was often necessar)- to force my way 

 throngli bramble and hawthorn, I usually carried a powerful little glass in uiy pocket: this enabled me, not 

 onl}' to recognize speci^^s, but to watch the birds to their nests. — A. G. B. 



