104 BRITISH BIRDS. 



colour of all the upper parts of the plumage is 

 ash, blended with glossy olive bronze brown: the 

 coverts, scapulars, lower part of the back and 

 tail coverts, are edged with dull white, and most 

 elegantly marked with transverse dark narrow 

 waved lines: the first two quills are plain brow^n; 

 the next nine are marked on the middle of their 

 inner webs, with white spots; the secondaries are 

 also marked in the same manner, on both webs, 

 and tipped with white. The tail consists of twelve 

 feathers: the four middle ones olive brown, dark 

 at the tips; those next, on each side, are much 

 lighter coloured, mottled with dark brown, and 

 tipped with white; the two outside ones are edged 

 and tipped in the same manner, but are barred 

 on their webs with dark brown : legs pale dull 

 green, faintly blushed with red. 



This description was taken from a perfect bird, 

 the present of the right honourable Lord Charles 

 Aynsley, of Little-Harle Tower, Northumberland, 

 in May, 1798. By comparing it with other birds, 

 and other descriptions (no doubt taken with equal 

 accuracy), the truth of the observation so often 

 made, that two birds even of the same species 

 are very seldom exactly alike, will be proved. 



This elegant little bird breeds in this country, 

 but the species is not numerous ; yet they are fre- 

 quently seen in pairs during the summer months; 

 and are well known by their clear piping note, 

 by their flight, by jerking up their tails, and by 

 their manner of running after their insect prey 

 on the pebbly margins of brooks and rivers. The 

 female makes her nest in a hole on the ground 

 near their haunts; her eggs, four in number, are 



