826 



WAGTAIL. 



only species of vulture which Is recorded as having 

 occurred in Britain, even as a rare straggler. They 

 follow the caravans in the deserts in large flocks, in 

 order to feed upon the camels and other animals 

 which perish on those hazardous marches, which are 

 fatal to the lives of so many, not only from the heat 

 and drought, which one could readily understand, 

 but from the piercing cold of the night'which, at 

 some seasons, follows a burning hot day. The ancient 

 Egyptians paid divine honours to these birds, and we 

 find them often represented in their sculptures and 

 paintings ; and, though the Mussulmans of the present 

 day do not actually worship them, they treat them 

 with much respect, as very important birds in a coun- 

 try where cleanliness is so essential, but so much 

 neglected. It is probable that in so wide and varied 

 a country as these vultures are scattered over, there 

 are many varieties, some of which have been named 

 and described as species. 



Urubu Vulture (P. jotd). This is an American 

 species, common in the warm and temperate parts of 

 that continent, and often confounded with the black 

 vulture, though it is a much smaller and quite a dif- 

 ferent bird. Its habits are similar to those of the 

 Egyptian vulture : and it renders similar services to 

 the people. It is also about the same size, but the 

 beak is shorter, and the plumage entirely bright black. 

 It is this one, and not the Atratus, which is called 

 the " carrion crow " in the United States. Its smaller 

 size, more slender beak, and blacker colour, readily 

 distinguish it from the other. There seem to be 

 some smaller species, or at all events varieties, of this 

 one in America. 



GYP^ETOS Griffons. These are the most bold 

 and powerful of all the vultures, and approach the 

 FalconidcE, with which they have been associated by 

 some describers ; but still they are vultures in their 

 essential characters. They have the eyes level with 

 the head, and the talons feeble ; their wings are half 

 spread in repose, and their craw sticks out when full, 

 as in the more typical vultures ; but their head is 

 entirely covered with feathers, and in the following 

 respects they make an approach to the eagles : the 

 bill is very strong, straight in the greater part of its 

 length, and much hooked at the tip of the upper 

 mandible, where it is enlarged ; the nostrils are 

 covered by rough hairs, and there are tufts of hair 

 projecting obliquely at the gape ; their tarsi are short 

 and feathered to the toes ; their wings are long, and 

 the third quill the longest. These characters show 

 that they have more hardship to endure than the 

 other vultures. 



The Lcemmer-geyer or Lamb Vulture ( G. barbatos) 

 is the typical bird. This is a sturdy mountaineer, 

 inhabiting, but not abundantly, the summits of the 

 most wild and elevated ridges, and nestling in the 

 inaccessible cliffs in a manner similar to the eagles. 

 It has been perhaps more exaggerated than any other 

 bird, except perhaps the condor. It is in all proba- 

 bility the roc of the Arabian tale ; and some de- 

 scribers have assigned it an extent of eighteen feet in 

 the wings, which appears to be about double the real 

 quantity ; and the length is about four feet, the tail 

 being long and strong. The upper plumage is black, 

 with a white line on the middle of each feather ; the 

 neck and all the under part of the body a clear fawn 

 colour ; a black band across the head ; and the band 

 or tuft of hair, which projects from the gape, black. 

 It stands accused of carrying off lambs, goats, cha- 



mois, and even the hunters, when they are benighted 

 and sleep on the mountains. It is also accused of 

 hovering over the villages and carrying off children. 

 It is further said to drive animals over the precipices, 

 in order to feast on their mangled remains ; all of 

 which must be taken cum grano salts. Still it is a 

 formidable bird, as well on the mountains of Africa 

 and Asia as on those of Europe. 



WAGTAIL (Motacula). A genus of dentirostral 

 bird, belonging to the fine-billed section, and having 

 some characters in common with the warblers, the 

 greater part of which were in the older arrangements 

 included in this genus. See BIRD, CURRUCA, SYLVIA. 

 It has been reduced to comparatively few species. 



The generic characters of the wagtails are : the 

 bill still more slender than that of the warblers ; the 

 tail very long, and in continual motion upward and 

 downward ; the tarsi long ; and the scapular-feathers 

 so long as to hang over the turn of the wings, as in 

 the stilt-birds, which run by the margins of the waters. 

 In fact, the more characteristic wagtails are aquatic 

 birds in their habits ; and though they capture great 

 part of their insect prey on the wing, they also cap- 

 ture a good deal while they are running, or in the 

 shallow waters, where they perch upon stones, waiting 

 what may come. As they are exclusively insecti- 

 vorous, they do not remain during the winter in the 

 colder latitudes, or in places where the water is apt 

 to be frozen. Limited as the genus is in the modern 

 system, it is, in Cuvier's arrangement, divided into 

 two subgenera, Motacilla, wagtails properly so called ; 

 and Budyles (shepherdess). 



MOTACILLA. These have the hind claw short and 

 crooked, as in the rest of the fine-billed section ; and 

 they are found only near waters. There are two 

 British species. 



Pied Wagtail (M. alba). This species is very much 

 distributed over the country in the summer, always 

 near the pools and streams, to enjoy which it advances 

 to a very considerable height up the mountains ; and, 

 though it disappears from those places as the cold 

 weather sets in, and food for it is not to be had, it is 

 probable that many remain during the winter. They 

 are handsome birds, and their action in the summer 

 is very amusing. They follow their prey in the air 

 by Jeaps and jerks, accompanying them by the motion 

 of the tail ; and they leap from the ground and catch 

 prey in the same manner. They are very familiar 

 birds, resorting to the close vicinity of houses, and 

 carrying on their labours about the horse-pond quite 

 undisturbed by the cattle or the servants. They also 

 attend the ploughs in the spring, and take their part 

 in clearing the fields of noxious insects ; and from 

 their familiarity and their strut, one would be half 

 tempted to believe that the little lively fellows are 

 aware that they are performing a service. At all 

 events, they are in their element ; for the plough turns 

 up numbers of larvse, and also of insects, which have 

 been hybernating in the earth. The male sings early 

 in the season, and sweetly, though his song is neither 

 loud nor of much compass or variety ; but it sings 

 from a low perch, at a time and in places where we 

 do not expect to hear a song, and this adds to the 

 effect which it produces. The nest is constructed in a 

 hole of the bank under a stone, or in a hole of the wall, 

 and sometimes in thick foliage near the ground. It is 

 constructed with vegetable fibres, feathers, and wool, 

 and lined with hair. The eggs are very small, four or 



