nOTES 



STATUS OF THE YELLOW WAGTAIL IN 

 WESTM'ORLAND. 



Macpherson in his Fauna of Lakeland (p. 112) gives the 

 impression that the Yellow Wagtail {Motacilla flava rayi) is 

 distinctly uncommon in the Lake District. He writes : 

 " Ray's Wagtail is a decidedly scarce summer visitant to 

 Lakeland A few pairs breed sporadically in Cumber- 

 land . . . but it never occurs in any numbers, not even on 

 migration." 



The fact is that the Yellow Wagtail is far from being a 

 scarce bird in Westmorland, where it is probably more numer- 

 ous in the nesting season than the moie typical Grey Wagtail. 

 However, it must be sought for in certain places only, but in 

 these chosen haunts it will be found fairly frequently. The 

 type of locality favoured by this bird is almost invariably 

 delta-land where the streams enter the lakes, flat marshy 

 fields which are subject to constant flooding during the winter 

 months. On some of these rough swampy fields up to as 

 many as six pairs breed every year, and such land is to be 

 found on almost every lake. A " lake-head " is practically 

 certain to be occupied by one or more pairs while round such a 

 lake as Windermere there are many suitable sites where the 

 birds are present every year. 



The average date of arrival in the spring is about 24th 

 April and the birds commence to construct their nests almost 

 immediately after arriving, though the eggs are net usually 

 laid till about the middle of May. As a rule one brood only 

 is raised, but in 1918 one pair that I had under observation 

 certainly had a second nest. The young from the first nest 

 were seen on the wing about the end of June, while on July 

 7th I watched the old bird busily engaged in building a second 

 nest, which was being lined with white cow's hair. A second 

 nest, however, is unusual. 



While the birds are only to be found on the low-lying 

 swampy ground thiough the summer, it is very noticeable that 

 from about the middle of August to the middle of September 

 they are much more generally distributed, coming freely into 

 fields and even gardens at some little distance from the water. 

 In spite of Macpherson 's remark about scarcity on migration, 

 I am inclined to think that there is a considerable autumnal 



