THE WAGTAILS. 25 



hunt eagerly for the insects which harbour in racist places; and very 

 beautiful it is to see their graceful motion, and to mark the flash 

 and flicker of their golden-edged plumage, as the sunshine falls 

 upon it at different angles. Grey tinged with green is the prevailing 

 ground colour of the bird, which has a black chin and throat, edged 

 with white, and a yellow breast in summer, which becomes grey in the 

 cold season; the wings are a mixture of dusky black, grey, and yellow, 

 as is the tail also; the legs and toes, which are small and delicate, 

 are yellowish brown. 



The male weighs about five drachms, and is generally from seven 

 and a half to eight inches long, the tail occupying nearly half 

 this length; the wings can be extended to more than ten inches, 

 and when closed, reach to within three inches of the end of the tail. 



The nest of the Grey Wagtail is generally placed on the ground, 

 among grass or stones, or in some hole in a bank, rock, or tree, 

 most commonly near water, but sometimes a good way from it. It 

 is a loosely-built structure, like that of most other Wagtails, and 

 formed of the same materials. There is often the same curious choice 

 of a situation as with others of the dishwashing brotherhood; for 

 instance, one pair built in a spout, and another year on a shelf in an 

 out-house, to which access was obtained through a broken pane of 

 glass; one in the window-seat of a dairy; between the switches of 

 a railway, within two or three inches of every passing train, have 

 been chosen by these eccentric birds for hatching and rearing their 

 young, of which they often have two broods in the year. 



THE GKEY-HEADED WAGTAIL, 



{Motacilla neglecta.} 



PLATE II. FIGURE III. 



MR. GOULD was the first to make out that this bird was not identical 

 with the common Yellow Wagtail, and he gave it the Latin name 

 neglecta, which signifies neglected. The species is plentiful throughout 

 the central parts of Europe, and is also found in Sweden, Denmark, 

 Lapland, and other countries, as well as in Japan, in India, among the 

 Himalaya Mountains, and in Africa. An insect-feeder, like the rest 

 of the Wagtails, graceful and beautiful, it is a strictly migratory bird, 



E 



