236 THE COMMON WAGTAIL. 



black top to the head being somewhat smaller. Some females 

 have been found with very little of the black cap, and even 

 without it, the head then being of the same colour as the 

 back. 



The young ones, which are seen in large flocks with the 

 yellow wagtail around herds of cattle, are so different before 

 the first moulting, that they have been considered a distinct 

 species, under the name of the grey wagtail (Motacilla cinerea). 

 In fact, the whole of the upper part of the body is grey, more 

 or less pale; the throat and belly dusky white; the breast 

 is generally crossed by a band, sometimes entire, sometimes 

 broken, of a grey or brownish colour, and the quill-feathers 

 are whitish on the outer edge. 



It is not surprising to find varieties amongst birds so nume- 

 rous. Some are quite white, others variegated, or speckled 

 with white. 



HABITATION. When wild it is found equally near houses, in the fields 

 and mountains, and in every place where insects and worms are in plenty. 

 It is in Germany a bird of passage, which assembles in autumn on the 

 tiles, like the swallow, to prepare for its departure in the first fortnight of 

 October*. It returns towards the end of February or beginning of March, 

 though the weather be not mild ; it may come thus early without danger, 

 as it does not fear to approach houses, on the walls of which it finds flies 

 that the spring sun has drawn from their retreat ; and in the streams it also 

 finds abundance of aquatic insects. 



In the house it may be kept in a cage, or allowed to range ; but in 

 either case it is necessary to scatter plenty of sand about, as it is a very 

 dirty little bird. 



FOOD. When wild, it feeds on gnats, water-spiders, aquatic insects, flies, 

 and insects that fasten on cattle, round which it often roams. It also 

 follows the ploughman to feed on the insects turned up by the plough. 



In the house nothing tames it so soon as ants' eggs, meal-worms, flies, 

 and other insects. By degrees it acquires a taste for other food. In the 

 cage it must be fed in the same manner as the nightingale. 



BREEDING. This species breeds two or three times in the course of the 

 season. Its nest, placed in a hole, in a crevice between stones, or even 

 under a tile, is carelessly formed of moss, small roots, hay, or something of 

 the kind, and lined with hair and wool. It lays five or six eggs, of a 

 bluish white, spotted with black. The young ones brought up from the 

 nest become so tame, that they will go and return like a pigeon, build in 

 the room, and seek for food for their little ones in the fields. 



DISEASES. Though very subject to diarrhoea, this and the two following 

 species may be preserved in a room five or six years. 



* It remains all winter in Britain TRANSLATOR. 



