SPARROWS, WAGTAILS, AND PIPITS 197 



The white-faced wagtails are hardly so attractive, 

 being commoner and coarser in appearance, and not 

 nearly so daintily refined in their ways. Although 

 they are much oftener to be met with close to 

 houses, they are not by any means so tame as 

 the grey birds, and when disturbed fly off at 

 once, uttering loud, shrill notes of alarm. 



Until comparatively recent years, Motacilla 

 borealis used to be a winter resident of Calcutta 

 in much larger numbers than either of the wagtails 

 just named. Up to the year 1881, immense flocks 

 of them were always to be found on the open plain 

 surrounding Fort William ; but after that time 

 they began to become less and less abundant every 

 successive season, and during the earlier part of the 

 following decade, only a few stray birds were to 

 be seen. These great assemblies took place in 

 autumn and spring immediately after the southern 

 and before the northern migration, but during the 

 whole course of winter considerable numbers of 

 birds were always to be met with. At first sight 

 it seems somewhat hard to account for the almost 

 complete desertion of the locality during recent 

 years, seeing that no buildings have been allowed 

 to encroach upon it, and that it retains most of its 

 principal characteristics. The fact is probably to 

 be ascribed to the diminished supply of insect-food 

 resulting from modern improvements in surface 

 drainage, and to the great increase of traffic brought 



