20 Bird-Life in Labrador. 



I have often mistaken it for the young of the horned lark, 

 which at a little distance it resembles ; but a close investiga- 

 tion would invariably detect the difference. Among others 

 the shore lark hops while the pipit walks. It was impossible 

 to mistake the full-grown bird, whose sleek, cunning appear- 

 ance, as you come near it, strikes you at once. It is here call- 

 ed the wagtail, and possesses that peculiarity of so few of our 

 birds of dipping and waving the tail, whence the name. On 

 alighting, the bird immediately begins this movement, as if to 

 secure a proper balance or equilibrium. The movement is gen- 

 erally a dipping of the whole hind part of the body, either straight 

 up and down or diagonally, so it often thus gives the appearance 

 of a waving of the tail from side to side ; this latter motion I 

 have never seen the bird execute. After firmly balancing 

 himself the waving motion ceases, and the bird sits for a time 

 with the tail pointing downward in a straight line with the 

 rest of the body. I have carefully watched these movements, 

 time and again, and am thoroughly convinced that this wagging 

 motion is simply a means of acquiring a normal position of the 

 body, and due, perhaps, to some peculiarity ia the structure 

 of the body itself. (I have never seen the bird hold the tail 

 downward at a slight angle with the body, as do most flycatch- 

 ers and kindred species.) The head is inclined upward and 

 the neck drawn in. After a short rest the bird will become 

 sprightly again and prepare to fly off. I have sometimes seen 

 the bird dip its tail without moving the rest of the body, though 

 rarely. It is at all times very tame, both young and old birds 

 allowing me to often approach within a few feet of them, during 

 the Summer season. Its walking motion is a rather short step, 

 and while busy picking up food it looks about sharply, here and 

 there, prepared to fly away at a second's notice, but rarely do- 

 ing so. Its food is insects of the coleopterous order, judging 

 from the legs, sheaths, and antenna?, of quite a number whose 

 gizzards I examined. The old bird is very cunning, shy, and 

 mouse-like. On approaching it it runs or walks to some shel- 

 tered tuft of grass or any concealment, and, crouching, draws 



