164 MOTACILLID^E. 



its quick eye has detected hovering in the air. Its simple 

 song consists of but few notes, but the tone is sweet and 

 pleasing, and is frequently heard when the bird is cleaving 

 its way through the air with its peculiar flight, in which 

 it describes a series of arcs, as if it were every instant on 

 the point of alighting, but had altered its mind. While 

 hunting for food, it keeps its tail in perpetual motion. 

 It shows little fear of man, and frequently approaches his 

 dwelling. It may often be noticed running rapidly along 

 the tiles or thatch of a country house, and it not un- 

 frequently takes its station on the point of a gable, or the 

 ridge of the roof, and rehearses its song again and again. 

 Yery frequently, too, it perches in trees, especially such as 

 are in the vicinity of ponds. Next to watery places, it 

 delights in newly-ploughed fields, and hunts for insects on 

 the ground, utterly fearless of the ploughman and his 

 implements. A newly-mown garden lawn is another 

 favourite resort ; so also is a meadow in which cows are 

 feeding, and to these it is most serviceable, running in and 

 out between their legs, and catching, in a short time, an 

 incredible number of flies. The country scarcely furnishes 

 a prettier sight than that afforded by a family of Wagtails 

 on the short grass of a park, in July or August. A party 

 of five or six imperfectly fledged birds may often be seen 

 scattered over a small space of ground, running about with 

 great activity, and picking up insects, while the parent 

 birds perform short aerial journeys above and around 

 them, frequently alighting, and transferring from their 

 own mouths to those of their offspring, each in its turn, 

 the insects they have just captured. They are at all times 

 sociably disposed, being seen sometimes in small parties, 

 and sometimes in large flocks. It has been noticed that 

 when one of a party has been wounded by a discharge 

 from a gun, another has flown down as if to aid it, or 

 sympathise with it. Advantage is taken of this habit by 

 bird-catchers in France. It is the custom to tie Wagtails 



