522 



AVES— WAGTAIL. 



THE WHITE WAGTAIL. 1 



This is an elegant, slender-bodied bird, and, next to the robin and the 

 sparrow, is the most familiar with man. It weighs about six drachms, and 

 is about seven inches and a half from the tip of the bill to the end of the 

 tail, and about eleven between the point of each wing, when extended. It 

 has a slender, straight, sharp bill, of a black or dusky color, upwards of an 

 inch long ; the circles of the eyes are brown, or hazle colored, with a large 

 white spot encircling each eye, and another or two underneath it, on each 

 side of the throat ; the top of the head, and the fore part of the neck, or 

 throat, and the upper part of the back, are all black. Some of the tips of 

 the quill feathers are white, which form a small white line upon the wing, 

 and another is also formed by the white edges of some of the rows of the 

 covert feathers ; the lower parts of the breast and belly are both white. 

 The tail is about three inches long, and is almost continually in motion, 

 wagging up and down, from whence it is supposed to derive the name of 

 wagtail ; the outer feathers are chiefly white, the rest black. This motion 

 is supposed to be intended to make the tail act as a kind of lever or counter- 

 poise, to balance the body on the legs. The claws are sharp pointed, and 

 pretty long, of a dusky or blackish color. 



These birds are frequently seen about the brinks of rivers, ponds, and 

 small pools of water, and also amongst the low grass in dewy mornings, 

 Avhere they feed upon flies, worms, beetles, and other small insects. They 

 particularly haunt streams where women come to wash their linen, the 

 insects being attracted thither by the froth of the soap. From this circum- 

 stance the French call them lavandieres. They build under the eaves of 

 houses, and in holes in the walls of old buildings ; laying four or five eggs. 



1 Motacilla alba, Lin. The genus Motadlla has the bill slender, straight, subulate, 

 angular between the nostrils ; edges of the lower mandible compressed ; nostrils basal, 

 lateral, oval, partly concealed by a naked membrane ; tarsus considerably longer than 

 the middle toe ; exterior toe joined to the middle one at the base ; hind claws strong and 

 sometimes long ; tail very long, equal, horizontal ; one of the larger coverts as long as the 

 wing feathers. 



