WHITE WAGTAIL. 201 



most common continental birds who seldom visit us, a late migrant to its 

 breeding-grounds. On the contrary it is one of the earliest birds to arrive 

 in North Germany, frequently appearing before March, and even occa- 

 sionally remaining during the winter. 



In Siberia I found that the White Wagtail was the first of the soft- 

 billed birds to arrive on the Arctic circle in any numbers, the greal break- 

 up of the ice on the 1st of June being the signal for its appearance on its 

 breeding-grounds. In the valley of the Petchora it appeared for the first 

 time on the 12th of May, and we got the first eggs on the 15th of June. 

 The nesting-site selected by the White Wagtail is precisely similar to that 

 chosen by the Pied Wagtail, and the nest is made of similar materials. A 

 nest of this bird I found at Alexievka was lined entirely with reindeer's 

 hairs and two or three spider's cocoons. The eggs of this species are five 

 or six in number and vary considerably. The specimens I have in my 

 collection may be fairly divided into three distinct types. The first and 

 ordinary type is pale greenish blue in ground-colour, spotted and thickly 

 speckled, chiefly at the large end, in the form of an irregular zone, with 

 greyish brown and with underlying markings of French grey. The second 

 type has the ground-colour almost pure white, and the spots and speckles 

 distributed in the same manner as in those already described, are a much 

 richer brown. The third type is dull white in ground-colour, thickly 

 marbled, splashed, and spotted over the entire surface with reddish brown 

 and pale brown. This latter type might almost again be subdivided into 

 t\vo, for sometimes the markings are very rich brown and finely powdered 

 over the surface, leaving the ground-colour very strongly apparent, and at 

 the larger end of the egg are sometimes a few streaky spots of dark brown 

 almost black. The eggs vary in length from -88 to Tinch, and in breadth 

 from -62 to -55 inch. It is very difficult to distinguish the eggs of the 

 White Wagtail from those of the Pied Wagtail ; but generally the latter are 

 not so blue in ground-colour, and the brown, or third type above men- 

 tioned, does not seem to occur at all. In temperate Europe the White 

 Wagtail rears two broods in the year, the first eggs generally being laid in 

 April, the second in June. 



The habits of the White Wagtail are not known to differ in any im- 

 portant respect from those of its very close congener the Pied Wagtail and 

 the haunts it frequents are similar. There can be little doubt that this 

 pretty little bird is overlooked in this country and confused with the 

 common species. Mr. J. Cullingford writes to me, respecting Lincoln- 

 shire and Cambridgeshire, that the bird is much more plentiful than 

 formerly. He has seen nests of this species, and, as far as his experience 

 goes, he says that it breeds later than the Pied Wagtail. Among the spring 

 flocks of Pied Wagtails an occasional White Wagtail may not unfrequently 

 be seen on the fields with the Rooks following the plough they run about 



