90 PASSERES. SYLVIAD^E. 



minnows, and immediately seizing the prize for 

 their own dinner.' " * 



The nest of this elegant little bird is commonly 

 constructed of root-fibres or slender twigs, lined 

 with hair, fine grass, and a few feathers; it is 

 generally in the vicinity of water, at a low eleva- 

 tion, rarely on the ground, and in whatever situa- 

 tion is almost always strengthened against some 

 firm support, as a ledge of rock, a bank, the trunk 

 of a tree, or a wall. A hole in a wall, a crevice 

 among loose stones, the interstices of a wood-pile 

 or faggot-stack, the thatch of a cart-shed, or a 

 hay -rick, these all chosen occasionally ; and Mr. 

 Jesse has mentioned in his " Gleanings," the nest 

 of a Wagtail built in one of the workshops of a 

 manufactory at Taunton, amidst the incessant din 

 of braziers who occupied the apartment. It was 

 built near the wheel of a lathe which revolved 

 within a foot of it, and here the bird hatched four 

 young ones. She was perfectly familiar with the 

 well-known faces of the workmen, and flew in 

 and out without fear of them ; but if a stranger 

 entered, or any other persons belonging to the 

 same factory, but not to what may be called her 

 shop, she quitted her nest instantly, and returned 

 not till they were gone. The male, however, 

 had less confidence, and would not come into the 

 room, but brought the usual supplies . of food to 

 a certain spot on the roof, whence it was brought 

 in to the nest by his mate. 



* Yarrell's Brit. Birds, i. 398. 



