BLACK-AND-WHITE WATER- WAGTAIL. 



him and withdraw his steps from the nest, which 

 they often succeed in doing. If the nest and its 

 cherished inmates should be captured, despite 

 all their efforts, they are seen flying round the 

 head of the spoiler, uttering piercing cries, as if 

 to move him to compassion. 



So careful are they to guard against the possi- 

 bility of such an event, that they most scrupu- 

 lously remove everything from the neighbourhood 

 of the nest, which could serve to point out its 

 situation. So particular are they in this respect, 

 that they have been known to carry away paper 

 or straw, which has been laid as a mark to trace 

 out the hiding-place. The principal part of 

 these birds migrate in October ; a few only re- 

 maining in this country. During the season in 

 which they are absent from us, they are found 

 in great numbers in Egypt, and likewise in 

 Senegal, but they pass away from those coun- 

 tries in the spring, and return to our climate 

 about the end of March.* In a book which aims 

 rather to be a popular introduction to ornitho- 

 logy, than a work of scientific pretension, we 

 have not thought it necessary to give minute de- 

 tails of the form and colouring of this lively little 

 bird, so familiar to all; nor is it needful that we 



* See Griffith's Cuvier. 



