2 BIRD NOTES 



beautify it, and a delightful sight it is to see them 

 chasing one another, or their shadows, from rock 

 to rock, or playing with the water as they splash 

 it all about them. The piebald one also abounds 

 here, but it does not seem to care so much for the 

 river ; it seems to prefer the roads and fields and 

 even the house-tops. I have had one now and 

 then upon my window-sill. 



One day in autumn, some years ago, there was 

 a curious sight : my lawn, and also the small 

 lawns on either side, were covered with wagtails 

 of all the three kinds, the piebald being, naturally, 

 the most numerous. I never saw them collected 

 in a flock before; is it their custom? and were 

 they preparing for migration '> If so, I suppose 

 the wagtails that we have here in the winter come 

 to us from more northern countries. Flocks of 

 larks and starlings have visited us in the same 

 way when there has been much snow ; yet we 

 have both birds with us during the winter as well 

 as the summer. The larks, however, do not come 

 down into the valley under ordinary circumstances. 

 To hear them one must climb to the top of 

 Salcombe Hill, which is 4 ( ,)7 feet high, and very 

 steep ; there they abound ; and there, too, may be 

 heard the kitten-like cry of the plover. No ; 

 when these poor larks visit us in such numbers, it 

 is from a sad necessity ; the snow lies thick above 



