YELLOW WAGTAIL. 351 



insects, which it captures flying, running, and some- 

 times wading, it is more active than the pied wagtail ; 

 and it is very valorous in defence of its nest, and 

 makes an incessant chattering when a bird of prey 

 appears. 



When it is stated that the migration of the grey 

 wagtail is northward and southward within the island, 

 it is not meant that the migration is always in that 

 direction. A colder place is what it seeks in the sum- 

 mer, and thus it may be found in the very elevated 

 moors, even in the south of England. It is worthy of 

 remark, that several of our domestic insectivorous 

 birds take their departure for the wilds and moors 

 at the same time that the warblers come to occupy 

 their place in the low countries, and thus there is, as 

 it were, a mutual accommodation among the feathered 

 tribes. 



The yellow wagtail (motacilla flava), is, strictly 

 speaking, a summer bird, arriving in March, and 

 leaving the country in September. It is not so much 

 of a water bird as the other two, being more partial 

 to inland farms and pastures than to the margins of 

 rivers, running upon the open cultivated ground and 

 forming its nest there, though the nest is of the same 

 materials and construction as that of the other wag- 

 tails. The feet are adapted for running upon longer 

 grass than those of the other two, as the hind toe and 

 claw are lengthened, as in the lark, or rather as in the 

 pipits ; the tail also is much shorter ; so that in a per- 

 fectly accurate system it ought, perhaps, to form a 

 separate genus. 



The general colour of the male bird in the spring 



