" This is one of our prettiest and at the same time most familiar feathered friends." 



THE PIED WAGTAIL 



T 



HIS is one of our prettiest 

 and at the same time most 

 familiar feathered friends. 

 Its graceful carriage and 

 sprightly movements en- 

 dear it to everybody with 

 any taste whatsoever for 

 ornithology. Whether seen 

 tripping lightly along the pebbly shore of 

 a river, wading the shallow margin of a 

 pond, running over a newly-mown lawn, 

 or following a ploughman in search of 

 food, it is equally at home, and always 

 the embodiment of grace and activity. 

 Like the other members of its family, 

 it is an insect eater, and when in pursuit 

 of its prey may frequently be observed 

 to run quickly after a fugitive fly, or 

 flutter straight in the air in order to 

 catch one passing overhead. 



Its most popular name has, of course, 

 been earned by its curious habit of 

 constantly wagging its tail up and down, 

 but it is also widely known by another, 



the origin of which is not so apparent, 

 viz. the Dishwasher. 



The flight of the Pied Wagtail is 

 peculiarly undulatory, the rise being 

 caused by a few vigorous wing beats, and 

 the fall by a sudden cessation of action 

 and the partial closing of the wings. Dur- 

 ing flight this species very frequently 

 utters its call-note, which sounds some- 

 thing like the syllables chiz-zit. 



Although numbers of Pied Wagtails 

 winter in the more sheltered parts of 

 the British Islands, the bird is largely 

 migratory, and during the spring I 

 have seen small newly-returned flocks 

 roosting in reed-beds on the Norfolk 

 Broads. 



This species exhibits great catholicity 

 in the selection of a nesting site. It 

 may sometimes be found in ivy, trained 

 against the walls of a dwelling house, in 

 a hole in an old, dry wall, in a crevice 

 of rock, amongst loose stones on the 

 ground, on a beam in a boat-house, in 



