WALRUS WASP. 



827 



five in number, of a greyish-white colour, with light 

 bright brown speckles ; and the bird is said to have 

 often the ungracious task of raising a young cuckoo 

 at the expense of its own brood, though, in very many 

 of the places where the wagtail breeds, the cuckoo 

 could not possibly get the egg into the nest unless 

 they sent it in a letter. The weight of this bird is 

 about three quarters of an ounce ; and the length, of 

 which the tail forms a considerable part, seven inches 

 and a half; the front cheeks and sides of the neck are 

 white ; the nape, the hind neck, the chin, and the 

 throat black; the back bluish-black, more or less 

 tinged with ash-colour ; two or three of the quills next 

 the body black ; and the rest dusky, with broad white 

 margins on the outer webs ; the coverts black, the 

 lesser tinged like the beak, and the greater with white 

 tips ; the tail-feathers black, with the exception of the 

 distal parts of two lateral ones on each side, which 

 are white. The female is dusky where the other has 

 black, and much more tinged with ash-colour; in 

 winter the black on the anterior part fades off, and is 

 replaced by white, with the exception of a crescent 

 on the breast. In winter many of them resort to the 

 lower estuaries and marshes flooded at high-water, 

 remaining in the withered herbage when the tide 

 is full, and ranging the ground as it ebbs away. 



(irci/ Wagtail (M. baitrala). This species is not 

 quite so common as the pied one, and its colours 

 are not nearly so conspicuous. It is also more 

 migratory. In summer the male has the principal 

 portion of the upper part grey, and the rump and 

 tail-coverts yellow ; two white lines diverge from the 

 gape, one over and the other under the eye, and one 

 across the eye, joining them above and below ; the 

 throat under the white lines is black, and running 

 with a curve downwards to the breast ; the whole of 

 the under part is yellow, bright where it joins the 

 black on the breast, but fading as it recedes upon the 

 belly ; the wings are greyish-black, with white tips to 

 the coverts ; the tail is black, with some white on two 

 or three of the lateral feathers ; the bill and also the 

 inside of the gape are black ; and the feet are brown, 

 marked with a yellowish garter on the tarsal joint. 

 The female has the yellow paler, and the grey with 

 a blackish or tarnished shade ; but the male fades to 

 the same tints in the winter. Besides being less abun- 

 dant than the pied wagtails, these birds are more 

 retiring in their habits ; and thus they are much less 

 frequently seen. They collect in the southern parts 

 oJ Britain in the winter, and are then known only, or 

 chiefly, as winter w r agtails ; and they quit these places 

 in February or in March, according to the season, 

 and spread themselves over the heights, without, 

 however, reaching so far to the north as the other 

 species. They breed by the streams in the up- 

 land moors of the south, but not in the low and rich 

 places to which they resort in the winter. The nest 

 is usually placed in the rocky banks, and seldom in a 

 cover of vegetation. The nest is much the same as 

 that of the pied one ; but the eggs are large, of a 

 yellowish colour, and brighter in the spots. In their 

 more southerly haunts they have often one brood 

 early in June, and another about the middle of July ; 

 but in less genial places they have only one about 

 midsummer. Their food at all seasons consists chiefly 

 of water insects and their larvae, and very small and 

 soft Crustacea and shelled mollusca. 



There is more propriety in the separating of these 

 birds from the warblers than appears at first sight. 



While they were associated with these in the system, 

 they were also associated with them in manners ; 

 whereas they are birds of a quite different habit ; 

 birds of the open air, not of the grove, altering their 

 plumage with the seasons more than their place ; and 

 having several points of resemblance w ith the pipits. 



BUDYTES. These birds are also with propriety 

 separated from the wagtails, on account both of their 

 structure and their haunts and habits, and their general 

 form and action, but the claw on their hind toe is 

 nearly straight, and lengthened as in those pipits 

 which most nearly resemble the larks. The structure 

 of the foot is adapted for walking upon grassy sur- 

 faces ; and, accordingly, the birds are chiefly found 

 upon them. They are insectivorous as well as the 

 others ; but they seek for insects in the fields and 

 meadows, and.follow the flocks and herds, about which 

 there are usually numbers of insects. It is for this 

 reason that they are called little shepherds or shep- 

 herdesses by the French, which is also the meaning 

 of their Greek generic name Budytes. There is only 

 one European species. 



The Yellow Shepherdess (B. flava}. While this 

 bird stand in the list of the wagtails, the epithet yel- 

 low was by no means a happy one, inasmuch as there 

 is less yellow upon it than upon the grey wagtail. 

 The green wagtail would have been more appropriate 

 if the generic wagtail had been retained ; but as 

 there is a difference of habit along with the dif- 

 ference of colour, the bird is much better in a sepa- 

 rate genus. 



It is a much rarer bird, at least much more local 

 in its distribution, than any of the wagtails ; and it is 

 more of a migrant, and probably leaves Britain en- 

 tirely in the winter. It appears in March, rears its 

 brood about midsummer, and migrates in September, 

 although a few appear to remain in the marine pas- 

 tures near the Channel. It is but seen on its coming 

 in the spring ; and thus it has been called the "oat- 

 seed bird " in England, and the " spring wagtail " in 

 France. The male is olive-green above in the sum- 

 mer, darker on the back ; the wings and tail are 

 dusky with but little white, and the under part is 

 yellow, bright anteriorly, and very pale backwards ; 

 The female is almost white on the under part ; the 

 nest is in a tuft or under a bush upon the ground, 

 and never in holes of banks, or under stones ; neither 

 is the bird found hawking for insects over the water, 

 or running on the sludgy shores, as is the case with 

 the wagtails properly so called. 



WALRUS. See MOUSE. 



WAPITI. See DEER. 



WARBLER. See CURRCCA and SYLVIA. 



WASP. The name of a well-known hymenopte- 

 rous insect, belonging to the section Aculeata, sub- 

 section Diploptera, family Vespidce, and genus Vespa. 

 In the articles DIPLOPTERA and ODYNERUS we have 

 already noticed the distribution of these insects and 

 the habits of the solitary species of wasps. We shall 

 therefore here confine our remarks to the social spe- 

 cies, which constitute the genera POILSTES (which 

 see), and Vespa, which, in its present restricted state, 

 comprises only six British social species of the Lin- 

 naean Vespa, the largest of which is the HORNET 

 (which see). The five other species are of smaller 

 size, the common wasp ( Vespa vulgaris of Linnaeus) 

 being the type of the genus, which is distinguished 

 by the existence of three kinds of individuals in the 

 community, namely, males, females, and neuters, by 



