132 



WHITE WAGTAIL, 



GREY AND WHITE WAGTAIL. 



PLATE LXIV. FIG. II. 



Motacilla alba, LTNN^US. GMELIN. 



" Brissoni, MACGILLIVEAT. 



THE nest is generally placed in a hole of a bank or of a tree, higher 

 or lower indifferently; sometimes under the eaves of a thatched house, 

 or between the timbers of a roof, among felled wood, or roots that the 

 earth may have fallen away from, a meadow, under a bridge, or in a 

 heap of stones. Both birds assist in its formation, bringing together 

 for the purpose small sticks and twigs, moss, grass, straws, leaves, and 

 roots, and lining the whole with wool and hair. 



The eggs, which have little or no natural polish on them, and are 

 four or five, six or seven in number, are bluish white in colour, speckled 

 all over with minute grey specks, and spotted with larger spots of 

 brown, principally at the larger end, occasionally in the way of an 

 irregular belt. 



The engraving is from a drawing of an egg in Mr. Birkbeck's 

 collection. 



