278 OBSERVATIONS ON BIRDS. 



it not more probable that they are awakened from sleep, and like 

 the bats are come forth to collect a little food ? Bats appear 

 at all seasons through the autumn and spring months, when the 

 thermometer is at 50, because then phalaenae and moths are 

 stirring. These swallows looked like young ones. 



WAGTAILS. 



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

 of wagtails, white and gray, run round 

 them, close up to their noses, and 

 under their very bellies, availing them- 

 selves of the flies that settle on their 

 legs, and probably finding worms and 

 larvae that are roused by the trampling 

 of their feet. Nature is such an econo- 

 mist, that the most incongruous ani- 

 mals can avail themselves of each 

 other ! Interest makes strange friendships.* 



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.f 



and Captain Wright saw vast flocks of them at sea, when on their passage from one country to 

 another. Our author, Mr. White, saw what he deemed the actual migration of these birds, and 

 which he has described at p. 65 of his History of Selborne ; and of their congregating together on 

 the roofs of churches and other buildings, and on trees, previous to tb^eir departure, many in- 

 stances occur, particularly I once observed a large flock of house-martins on the roof of the 

 church here at Catsfield, which acted exactly in the manner here described by Mr. White, some- 



times preening 

 but soon return 



heir feathers and spreading their wings to the sun, and then flying off ail togethei 

 ig to their former situation. The greatest part of these birds seemed to be young 



ually avail themselves of particular and unusual circumstances to procure their 

 ills keep playing about the noses and legs of cattle as they feed, in quest of flies 

 which abound near those animals ; and great numbers of them will follow close 



* Birds conti 

 food ; thus wag 

 and other inset- 

 to the plough to devour the worms, &c., that are turned, up by that instrument. The redbr 

 attends the gardener when digging his borders; and will, with great familiarity and lameness, 

 pick out the worms, almost close to his spade, as 1 have frequently seen. Starlings and magpies 

 very often sit on the backs of sheep and deer to pick out their ticks. MABKWICK. 



t This curious and very beautifully marked species is particularly common in many parts of 

 Surrey, where it is known by various names, ascuckoo's-mate, pay-pay, snake bird, &.c., the second 

 term being obviously derived from its hawk-like note. Though its foot closely resembles that of 

 many woodpeckers, it is very rarely indeed seen to climb, but that it can do 'so I have had occa- 

 sion to witness ; it presses, however, its soft tail against the bark, the structure of which sufficiently 



