April 



loiterer whose innocent arts all but lead me where 

 his mate is nesting on the ground. 



On the 1 6th April I observed the first pair of 

 white wagtails in our water meadows. This bird is 

 the Continental form of the pied wagtail, and resembles 

 it closely in all particulars save the colour of the 

 back. The latter is of an even grey both in the 

 male and female birds, whereas in the male of 

 the pied wagtail the back is black, and in the female 

 the grey back is irregularly blotched and streaked 

 with black, the grey itself being dingier than in the 

 white form. The white wagtail occurs on migration 

 both in spring and in autumn, but as at the latter 

 period the young of the pied wagtail also have grey 

 backs, it is easier to distinguish the white wagtail 

 on the spring passage, the young pied wagtails having 

 by then acquired mature plumage. 



The white wagtail was continuously in evidence 

 in our water meadows until the 3rd May ; then it 

 became rarer, but as one was seen as late as the last 

 week of June, it would seem not improbable that it 

 had remained to breed. These birds are well worth 

 close watching in the spring, for, to judge by the 

 lagging manner in which they move on at that time, 

 I have small doubt that some of them settle down in 

 favourable spots to breed. 



The tree-pipit announced his advent on the 

 morning of the 28th April. Yearly he returns to 

 some high elms that shelter an old orchard in their 

 rear, but face an open grass field, where his mate 



in 



