121 



WHITE WAGTAIL. 



GREY AND WHITE WAGTAIL. 



PLATE LXIV. FIG. II. 



Motacilla alba, . . . Linnaeus, Gmelin. 



Motacilla Brissoni, . . . Macgilliveay. 



The nest is generally placed in a hole of a bank 

 or of a tree, higher or lower indiiferently ; sometimes 

 under the eaves of a thatched house, or between the 

 timbers of a roof, among felled wood, or roots that 

 the earth may have fallen away from, a meadow, 

 under a bridge, or in a heap of stones. Both birds 

 assist in its formation, bringing together for the purpose 

 small sticks and twigs, moss, grass, straws, leaves, and 

 roots, and lining the whole with wool and hair. 



The eggs, which have little or no natural polish on 

 them, and are four or five, six or seven in number, 

 are bluish white in colour, speckled all over with 

 minute grey specks, and spotted with larger spots 

 of brown, principally at the larger end; occasionally 

 in the way of an irregular belt. 



The engraving is from a drawing of an e^^ in Mr. 

 Birkbeck's collection. 



