114 BIRDS OF THE WEST OF SCOTLAND. 



EAY'S WAGTAIL. 

 MOTACILLA RAYL 



IN some parts of Lanarkshire and Ayrshire, the Oatear, or Seed 

 Lady, as this species is called, is very common on its arrival in 

 the month of April. It appears to keep in flocks for a few days 

 before becoming dispersed, and may be then obtained in some 

 numbers by collectors. On the banks of the Clyde, a few miles 

 east of Glasgow, I have seen at this season flights of Oatears 

 enlivening the adjoining fields, and at once attracting notice by 

 the vivacity of their movements. I have remarked also, that their 

 colours were very much brighter than during the summer months; 

 indeed, the strong yellow hue is so conspicuous as to arrest the 

 attention of even unobservant people. Towards the end of April 

 they betake themselves to their old haunts, occupying a tolerably 

 wide tract in the west of Scotland, where they are generally estab- 

 lished in pairs at suitable intervals. As the season advances I 

 have observed that, in Ayrshire especially, they go to the sea-shore, 

 frequenting the shingle where any small rivulet enters the sea. 

 They are also seen regularly on the bed of larger streams, espe- 

 cially towards mid-day, at which time I have always been able to 

 find a pair refreshing themselves in the pools. In the outskirts of 

 Glasgow, two or three pairs are found nesting every year, each 

 pair frequenting almost the same spot they had come to occupy 

 twelve months before. 



On the east of Scotland the yellow wagtail is distributed in like 

 numbers as far as Forfarshire, and it has occurred several times 

 in Orkney. 



INSESSORES. ANTHID^E. 



DENTIROSTRES. 



THE TEEE PIPIT. 



ANTHUS ARBOREUS. 



THE only Scottish district in which I have found this summe'r 

 pipit in anything like abundance is comprehended within a circle 

 of a few miles around Glasgow. In the neighbourhood of Possil 

 it is very common in the outskirts of woods, especially on its 



