PIED WAGTAIL. 349 



alarm and send up to the surface insects that are in 

 the earth, and thus, while they seek their own comfort, 

 they contribute to the supply of the wagtail. 



The note of the wagtail is but feeble, yet it is not 

 unpleasant ; and as we meet it in shady places and by 

 the banks of streams, in sultry weather, always in mo- 

 tion, whether on the ground or on the wing, it is always 

 associated with freshness and activity. In the con- 

 struction of their nests they hold a sort of intermediate 

 place between the carelessness of the warblers and the 

 careful neatness of the wrens. The structure is gene- 

 rally placed in some sort of concealment near the bank 

 of a stream, or among stones, thick bushes, or in a low 

 pollard ; but it is also occasionally on the margin of 

 lawns, and other places near the water, where the grass 

 is kept short. The external structure is made of moss, 

 grass, and fibrous roots, but it is well lined with hair, 

 wool, or feathers, so as to be very soft and warm. The 

 eggs are greyish white, speckled with brown, and they 

 are commonly four or five ; but it is said that, by re- 

 moving one always, as there are two in the nest, the 

 same female has been made to lay as many as thirty. 

 The parent birds are very much attached to their nests 

 and their young ; face danger very boldly in defence 

 of them, and if they are plundered, follow the spoiler 

 very closely, and with angry cries. 



The summer range of the pied wagtail is very great, 

 extending not only to Orkney and Shetland, but to the 

 Faroe islands. In those places they are migratory, 

 and so they are in the northern parts of Britain ; and 

 as the numbers that are found in more favourable 

 places in the winter, bear but a very small proportion 

 2 H 





