438 The Natural History of Selborne 



WAGTAILS. 



WHILE the cows are feeding in the moist low pastures, broods 

 of wagtails, white and grey, run round them, close up to their 

 noses, and under their very bellies, availing themselves of the 

 flies that settle on their legs, and probably finding worms and 

 larvce that are roused by the trampling of their feet. Nature 

 is such an economist, that the most incongruous animals can 

 avail themselves of each other. 



Interest makes strange friendships. WHITE. 



Birds continually avail themselves of particular and unusual 

 circumstances to procure their food ; thus wagtails keep play- 

 ing about the noses and legs of cattle as they feed, in quest 

 of flies and other insects which abound near those animals ; 

 and great numbers of them will follow close to the plough to 

 devour the worms, &c., that are turned up by that instrument. 

 The redbreast attends the gardener when digging his borders ; 

 and will, with great familiarity and tameness, pick out the 

 worms, almost close to his spade, as I have frequently seen. 

 Starlings and magpies very often sit on the backs of sheep and 

 deer to pick out their ticks. MARKWICK. 



WRYNECK. 



THESE birds appear on the grass-plots and walks ; they walk 

 a little as well as hop, and thrust their bills into the turf, in 

 quest, I conclude, of ants, which are their food. While they 

 hold their bills in the grass, they draw out their prey with 

 their tongues, which are so long as to be coiled round their 

 heads. WHITE. 



GROSBEAK. 



MR. B. shot a cock grosbeak which he had observed to haunt 

 his garden for more than a fortnight. I began to accuse 

 this bird of making sad havoc among the buds of the cherries, 



