THE PIED WAGTAIL. 81 



of the breeding season the effect of a wanner 

 eliinate are comparatively tame and easily 

 caught ; they are at once attracted by the decoy, 

 and fly into the net in unsuspicious haste. 



Goldfinches again become numerous in October, 

 when detached parties, including the young of the 

 year, which have been spread through other por- 

 tions of the island during the summer, draw to- 

 wards the sea, and pass eastward in succession, 

 until they find in some part of Kent as I imagine 

 a favourable spot for crossing the Channel. 



The pied wagtail* arrives from the continent on 

 the shores of Sussex about the middle of March. 

 Although several spend the winter here, these bear 

 but a small proportion to the numbers that visit us 

 in the spring. On fine days during this season I 

 have frequently seen them approaching the coast, 

 aided by a gentle breeze from the south, their 

 well-known call-note being distinctly audible, 

 under such favourable circumstances, from a 



* A few years have elapsed since I was first struck by 

 the incorrectness of the received opinion that our pied 

 wagtail was migratory only in the northern, but stationary 

 in the southern counties of England ; and a portion of the 

 following remarks on that bird appeared at the time in a 

 communication made by me to the * Zoologist,' which was 

 subsequently noticed by Mr. Yarrell, in the second edition 

 of his ' History of British Birds.' 



5 



