HEDGE ACCENTOR. PIED WAGTAIL. 57 



GENUS XXVI. ACCENTOR (CHANTER). 

 SPECIES 56 THE HEDGE ACCENTOR. 



Accentor modularis. Selby. 



Accenteur mouchet. Temm. 

 Hedge-sparrow. Reefouge. Black Wren. 

 THIS unobtrusive and modestly attired species is found in all 

 suitable localities, and although not occurring in numbers, is 

 yet so widely distributed as to be commonly met with. Its 

 favourite haunts are hedges, in the vicinity of the farmhouse 

 and garden, where it threads its way through the intricacies. 

 Even in the centre of large towns, as in the public squares of 

 Dublin, the hedge-sparrow can be observed at all times. Its 

 habits are as unobtrusive as its song is sweet and simple ; 

 and on this species nature has unfortunately bestowed the 

 privilege of possessing those beautiful bluish-green eggs which, 

 in most counties in Ireland, are sought after with such 

 avidity by juvenile bird-nesters ; so much so, that it is their 

 ambition to surround each of those elaborate designs, " where 

 tawdry yellow strives with dirty red," with a chaplet of the 

 hedge-sparrow's eggs. In a cottage in the county of Wick- 

 low we have counted as many as 115 eggs of this harassed 

 and hapless little warbler. However, this is not the only in- 

 convenience the persecuted parent meets with ; for to her care 

 the u parasitic" cuckoo but too often confides her offspring, 

 and then, with ceaseless toil, the hedge-sparrow labours to 

 provide sustenance for her foster-child, of such ungainly 

 growth that thousands of larvae from the sod beneath the 

 shady hedgerow must be immolated to appease the mighty 

 hunger of her giant child. 

 Indigenous. 



FAMILY X. MOTACILLIK^E (WAGTAILS). 



GENUS XXVII. MOTACILLA (WAGTAIL). 

 SPECIES 57 THE PIED WAGTAIL. 



Motacilla Yarrellii. Gould. 



Bergeronnette grise. Temm. 



Willy Wagtail. Devil's Bird. Deviling. 



THE most common and widely distributed of the Motacillinae, 

 the pied wagtail is found in all localities. Equally at home 

 by the margin of the retired mountain rivulet as it is in the 



