*94 TIED, OR YARRELLS WAGTAIL. 



THE PIED, OR YARRELL'S WAGTAIL MOTA- 

 CILLA YARRELLII, Gould. Motacilla alba, Linn. 

 Motacilla Yarrellii, Gould, Mag. of Nat. Hist, 

 for 1837, p. 459. Pied or White Wagtail of 

 Modern British Authors. From the account of 

 Mr Gould, given in the work quoted above, there 

 can be no doubt that our modern ornithologists 

 have been mistaken in the synonimy of the Pied 

 Wagtail, and that two birds have really been con- 

 founded. The British species seems not to have 

 been described by most of the older writers, if we 

 except Willughby, who hints at the existence of 

 " two kinds," but only figures that commonly met 

 with on the Continent. Linnaeus also describes 

 the gray backed bird, which appears curious when 

 we read Mr Gould's statement, that Norway and 

 Sweden are the only localities where he had been 

 able to procure our common bird. 



In an alpine country the habits of our native 

 black backed bird are very similar to those of 

 the last. It breeds and rears its young in the 

 same localities ; but where the country becomes 

 more densely peopled, the manners are accommo- 

 dated to circumstances, and the nest, though 

 generally placed in the vicinity of water, is often 

 built in the midst of a manufactory, and without 

 apparent interruption from the noise and constant 

 moving about of workmen. In autumn, flocks 

 of this species, composed of the young broods, 

 assemble together, and may be found feeding by 

 the margins of streams, or on the bare unculti- 



