94 ALLEN'S NATURALIST'S LIBRARY. 



some specimens which induce us to believe that there is a partial 

 spring moult in all Wagtails and Pipits, and that some of the 

 black throat-feathers in the former are really assumed by a 

 direct moult. That the Tree-Pipit moults in spring we have 

 proved by a pair of birds which we kept through the winter (vide 

 infra, p. 105). 



Range in Great Britain. A resident, and breeding over the 

 greater portion of our islands, but not remaining during the 

 winter in the more northern parts. Although nesting in small 

 numbers in the Orkneys and some of the Hebrides, it is only a 

 spring and autumn migrant in the Shetland Islands. In most 

 places a certain amount of migration takes place, and many of 

 our Pied Wagtails leave the country, but in many parts of 

 England the species remains through the winter. 



Range outside the British Islands. The Pied Wagtail is pecu- 

 liarly a species of Western Europe. It breeds in the north- 

 west of France, and sparingly in Holland, but in Belgium it 

 appears to be only an accidental visitor. It likewise visits 

 Denmark, passes over Heligoland, sometimes in some num- 

 bers, and breeds in South-western Norway. It is a winter visitor 

 to Southern France, Spain, extending to Morocco, and has oc- 

 cured as a straggler in Italy. 



Habits. This very graceful little bird is familiar to most 

 people, and in many parts of the country it is called a " Dish- 

 washer." Its name of Wagtail is gained from the graceful way 

 in which it balances and sways its tail up and down, with every 

 movement. The flight of the species is undulating, and consists 

 of a series of dips through the air, each dip being accompanied 

 by an utterance of its call-note, which is very well imitated 

 by the words chiz-zit. During the nesting season the Wagtail 

 is very tame and trustful, nesting often in the neighbour- 

 hood of habitations in the most easily detected places. At 

 Cookham in our young days we often found the nest in the 

 large rustic flower-baskets on the lawn, a little depression being 

 scraped in the mould and the nest placed therein. It was diffi- 

 cult to preserve the birds from prowling cats, but a still more 

 relentless enemy was the Cuckoo, which seemed always to select 

 a Wagtail's nest in which to deposit its eggs. The food of the 

 Wagtail consists entirely of insects, in the pursuit of which it is 



