IN PAIRING TIME 145 



Meadow-pipits indulge it most frequently, and from 

 early February onwards may be seen resorting to 

 even lofty trees. When perching, Pied and Yellow 

 Wagtails frequent as a rule hedge-tops and the lower 

 branches of trees, though both species will at times 

 perch high. This is curiously exceptional conduct, 

 seeing how closely these birds keep the ground 

 at other times, being indeed birds that nest 

 and feed exclusively upon the ground. I have 

 only once observed Pied Wagtails using such a 

 situation for purposes of display, and this was limited 

 to certain bowing antics by the male as he passed 

 from twig to twig around the female. This perching 

 habit being indulged frequently in the pairing season, 

 I looked to find it connected in some way with pair- 

 ing. This is not so ; nor do these birds feed when 

 perching. I recall occasions when, about the middle 

 of September, I have seen Yellow Wagtails collected 

 in parties of from a dozen to a score in the tops of 

 high trees, by their excited flutterings and short 

 flights exhibiting some of the accompaniments of 

 swarming in birds about to migrate. This perching 

 in trees by Meadow-pipits, Pied and Yellow Wagtails 

 about the pairing time may therefore be incidental 

 to their spring migration, and quite unconnected with 

 pairing, coinciding with the time of pairing only 

 because the latter and the time of the spring passage 

 are themselves coincident. 



The Wagtails, like most of the smaller birds of 

 bright plumage, are deficient in courting antics. 

 Beyond strutting hither and thither before the female, 

 using a low, prattling note as he does so, the male 

 Wagtail appears to have no distinctive ceremonies 



