Mr Hcrhert on the Migration of the Pied Wagtail. 73 



Post Office in Edinburgh. The question naturally arises, 

 whence come these birds and whither do they go ? As far as 

 my observation extends, we have no perceptible increase or 

 decrease in their numbers in the winter either here or in the 

 middle of England, nor am I aware that this is the case in 

 the south of the island ; and it has occurred to me, though of 

 course this is merely a conjecture, that these migrations may 

 be from Scandinavia to the Continent, or even farther south 

 to Africa. Of the winter habitat of the hirundines, thanks 

 to Canon Tristram and other observers, we are now pretty 

 well informed, but of that of these migratory wagtails we 

 seem to kno^v little. I am aware that both Gould and 

 Yarrell, and our friend Mr Gray, draw a distinction between 

 the Continental species, Motacilla alba, and our own, and I 

 would suggest that it is j^ossihle these migrants may be the 

 Continental species, but I could discover nothing in their 

 call-notes, mode of flight, etc., to induce me to think those I 

 saw were any other than our common species ; but this point 

 could be easily solved by shooting one of the migrants ; and 

 I have ventured to make these few remarks in the hope of 

 eliciting from some of our members information on the sub- 

 ject. I know no tribe of birds more interesting than the 

 three common species of Motacilla of these islands ; beautiful 

 in colour, elegant in form, sprightly, joyous, and agile in 

 habits, they at once attract our attention, and they are per- 

 haps the quickest runners for their size of any birds we 

 possess, not proceeding by a series of small jumps like the 

 chaffinch and so many others, but running in the ordinary 

 mode, and with such rapidity that the eye can scarcely 

 follow their movements. I consider the yellow species (if. 

 Bayi), which is truly migratory and a summer visitant, the 

 most beautiful and graceful of the three; it is more attenuated 

 in form, and the fine shadings of yellow and greenish brown 

 render it an attractive and extremely pretty bird. Often, as 

 a boy, have I sat on a common in summer to watch a pair of 

 these birds feeding close to a cow, with whom they seem 

 to establish a sort of friendship, as they fearlessly and with 

 great adroitness capture flies within a few inches of her 

 mouth or legs, for all the tribe are expert fly-catchers, no 



