PIED WAGTAIL. 543 



and Thrushes in watching the Wagtails catch the minnows, 

 and immediately seizing the prize for their own dinner." 

 In the Fish-House of the Zoological Society a pair of Pied 

 Wagtails in two .successive summers bred and reared their 

 young in captivity. 



The nest is built of moss, dead grass and fibrous roots, 

 lined with hair and a few feathers. It is generally placed on 

 the side of a bank or of a wall, overgrown with ivy or 

 against which a tree is trained ; while the thatch of a build- 

 ing, a fuel- stack, a hay-rick or a convenient nook among 

 rocks or large stones, will often afford it the shelter of which 

 the bird is almost always desirous. Sometimes, however, 

 all such precaution is disregarded, and several instances 

 are known of its courting human society, and one in par- 

 ticular has been recorded by Jesse, where the nest was 

 placed near the wheel of a lathe in a brazier's workshop at 

 Taunton, amid loud and incessant noise. The eggs are four 

 or five in number ; of a french-white, finely speckled with 

 ash-colour and occasionally blotched with dull olive. They 

 measure from -86 to '73 by from -62 to -57 in. 



When the young are able to follow the parents, the little 

 family may be seen in meadows very busy about the feet of 

 the cattle while grazing, availing themselves, as White 

 observes, of the flies that settle on their legs, and probably 

 feeding also on the worms and larvae that are roused by the 

 trampling of their feet. 



Our Pied Wagtail is exceedingly common in all parts of 

 the United Kingdom, reaching even St. Kilda and Unst. 

 In all but the extreme northern parts it is, on the whole, 

 resident throughout the year ; but individually it is probably 

 a thorough migrant, that is to say, each bird seems to move 

 southward in winter, so that at that season the northern 

 limits of its range are deserted, while the population of its 

 southern limits seek quarters beyond sea, their place being 

 supplied by birds bred further to the north. In spring this 

 shifting movement is reversed. Mr. Cordeaux remarks that 

 the increased cultivation of turnips in Lincolnshire has 

 induced this species to become a winter-resident there, which 



