250 WAGTAILS AND PIPITS 



whole of its needs, and so fill its life. It cannot, however, from this, 

 be argued that such beings do not suffer, under captivity, since they 

 live then in a perpetual state of unfittedness for their enforced part in 

 life, and inherited energies, for which no outlet arises, must become 

 wants in proportion to their strengths. Waiting (to continue) 

 must be filled up with reflections of some sort, but, at the end of forty 

 minutes or so, the parents return, an event which the young bird 

 acknowledges by a sudden and most violent wagging of his tail, which, 

 by comparison with the adult one, is as yet short and stumpy. His 

 whole little body moves in consonance, and the effect, in striking 

 contrast to his previous stillness, is very arresting to the attention. 

 Having thus, in his own way, salaamed, he flies to his dam, who has 

 settled on another stone near him, and is presently fed by her. After 

 this, he follows her, as she flies from stone to stone, and often, as she 

 makes a turn towards him, meets her, breast to breast, in the air, where, 

 hovering a little, he seems to expect to be fed. In this, however, he is 

 not gratified, and, still soliciting, albeit after several less poetical 

 banquets, follows his mother down the stream. Here, upon another 

 stone, at the distance of some two hundred yards or so, sits a second 

 somewhat larger young wagtail who straightway wags his, and makes 

 the familiar request. But although the first one continues to be fed 

 insects caught, one after another, in the air, being now the uniform 

 diet the mother steadily refuses to do the same by the other of her 

 offspring. He is denied several times, and, after a while, seems to 

 resign himself to this position, sitting quietly, unfed, on his stone, 

 whilst his younger brother or sister is solely attended to. It is true 

 that his dam often flies up to him, with insects in her bill, yet still 

 she does not feed him. She seems sometimes on the point of doing 

 so, but after flourishing them, as it were, before him, flirts away, to 

 bestow them, later, on the evident favourite. This seems a heavy 

 dispensation for the neglected chick to bear, nor is the reason for 

 it obvious. He may be fed, at last the worst of field observation 

 is that one can so rarely see to the end of a thing but meanwhile 



