THE WAG-TAIL 85 



mother take them along the banks of rivulets and 

 keep watch over them for about a month longer. Quite 

 recently, on the banks of lake Annecy in Savoy, I wit- 

 nessed I he restless uneasiness and agitation of a couple 

 of wag-tails, one of whose fledglings had got astray under 

 a garret-window and was not able to get out again. Not 

 only the wag-tails chaperon their children, but they teach 

 them to catch flies whilst they are taking their flight. You 

 can see them then rising by starts, turning round and 

 round, wheeling about by means of their tail which they 

 spread out like a fan ; whilst they are fluttering, they utter 

 a low, sharp, shrill, redoubled cry, having a clear, dis- 

 tinct sound. 



The dish-washer is a very nervous bird, its vivacity 

 is almost restlessness. It appears to be very familiar, and 

 yet it is very difficult to catch. As soon as you approach, 

 it will fly aw^ay ten steps further, perch somewhere else 

 wagging its tail, as if it were setting the person who is 

 pursuing it at defiance ; then again it will take its flight, 

 and these proceedings go on for hours. One of my 

 friends, a poet, has tried to characterize in a few verses 

 the nervous, deceiving flight of the dish-washer : 



EUe semble. la belle, 

 Un maitre de chapelle 



Blanc el noir, 

 Qui rythme la cadence 

 Du mouliu et la danse 



Uii battoir. 



