592 IIIS TORY OF THE 



and there to catch a passing fly or gnat, or pick an insect from 

 the bark or leaves, snapping its bill at every capture; busy, ner- 

 vous bodies, that cannot be content at rest. 



They are not naturally shy or timid, and hop and fly about 

 regardless of an intruder, uttering occasionally a sharp "Chip." 

 Their song, heard at short intervals in the early breeding season, 

 and occasionally toward its close, is also uttered without a pause 

 in their movements, and often in hurried snatches. A varied 

 song, quite loud and shrill, or soft and pleasing, as the spirit 

 mov ( es them. At times it sounds much like that of the Yellow 

 Warbler, but not so loud and musical. 



Their nests are built in small trees, usually six to ten feet 

 from the ground, (but I have found their nests all the way from 

 three to thirty feet from the ground,) usually placed within and 

 woven around three or more small, upright branches; composed 

 of stems, rootlets, strippings from plants, and a soft, fibrous, 

 cottony substance, which is worked in and covers the outside; 

 the inside is lined with fine stems, hairs, and occasionally a few 

 feathers; a neat, compact structure. Eggs three to five (usually 

 four), . 65x. 50; cream to greenish white, dotted with fine specks 

 of pale yellowish to reddish brown and lilac, thickest and run- 

 ning together around the larger end; in form, oval. 



FAMILY MOTACILLIDJE. WAGTAILS. 



"Bill slender, conical, nearly as high as wide at base, with slight notch at 

 tip; the culmen slightly concave above the anterior extremity of the nostrils; 

 short bristles at gape, which, however, do not extend forward to nostrils. Loral 

 feathers soft and dense, but with bristly points; nasal groove filled with naked 

 membrane, with the elongated nostrils in lower edge; the frontal feathers com- 

 ing up to the aperture, but not directed forward nor overhanging it. Wings 

 lengthened and sharp pointed; the primaries nine (without spurious first), of 

 which the first three to five (considerably longer than the succeeding) form the 

 tip; the exterior secondaries generally much emarginated at the ends; the inner 

 secondaries (so-called tertials) nearly equal to the longest primaries. The tail 

 rather narrow, emarginate. Tarsi lengthened, scutellate anteriorly only; the 

 hind claw usually very long, acute, and but slightly curved (except in Motacilld). 

 Inner toe cleft almost to the very base; outer adherent for basal joint only." 



GENUS ANTHUS BECHSTEIN. 



"Bill slender, much attenuated, and distinctly notched. A few short bristles 

 at the base. Cultnen concave at the base. Tarsi quite distinctly scutellate; 



