256 INSESSORES. MOTACILLA. Wagtail. 



time, they leave the kingdom in September, to seek a warmer 

 Nest &c. residence for the winter. — The Yellow Wagtail builds upon 

 the ground, forming a nest of dry stalks and root-fibres, 

 lined with hair. The eggs are four or five in number, of a 

 pale wood-brown, spotted with the same colour of a darker 

 shade. In its habits it resembles its congeners, and its usual 

 call is not unlike that of the Pied Wagtail, but rather shril- 

 Food. ler. Like them, it feeds upon insects and worms. It ap- 

 pears to be subject to the vernal moult, as its colours, during 

 the pairing season, are of a much brighter hue than when it 

 leaves us in autumn, after having undergone the regular 

 moult ; at which time the adult and young birds are not to 

 be distinguished. 



This species differs from the preceding ones, in having 

 the hind claw much produced, and nearly straight, in, this 

 respect approaching closely to the succeeding genus Jntfms. 

 It would seem that many authors have confounded this spe- 

 cies with the Grey Wagtail, as they have mentioned it as 

 indigenous.* The superior length of tail of the Grey Wag- 

 tail, its ash coloured back, and the want of the produced hind 

 claw, will always prove sufficient tokens of distinction. 



Plate 49. Fig. 3. A male bird, of the natural size. 

 General Crown of the head, nape of the neck, and ear-coverts, pale 

 descrip. wax-yellow. Back, rump, and scapulars, a darker shade 



of the same colour. Over the eyes is a streak of gam- 

 boge-yellow. Wing-coverts blackish-brown, margined 

 and tipped with yellowish-white. Quills blackish-brown, 

 margined and tipped as above. Middle tail-feathers 

 margined with wax -yellow ; the two outer ones, with 

 the whole of their exterior and part of their inner webs 

 white. Legs and toes blackish-brown. Hind claw pro- 

 duced, and but slightly curved. The female has the 



• See White's Nat. Hist. Selb. p. 38, who says, " Wagtails, both white 

 and yellow, remain with us all winter." 



