THE



259



Avicultural Magazine,


BEING THE JOURNAL OF THE


AVICULTURAL SOCIETY.



Third Series.-— V ol. V.—No. 9. —All rights reserved. JULY, 1914.



THE YELLOW WAGTAIL.


By J. H. Symonds.


During my summer fishing excursions as a boy to a deep pool

in the river Ivel some eight or ten miles north-east of Bedford, I

well remember the Yellow Wagtail as my constant river companion.

Perhaps only a few yards away he was to be seen daintily pattering

about some floating patch of weed or on a mass of cut rushes that

had come down stream and found an anchorage against the wooden

piles that remained as evidence of a once existing boating stage.

Often his dainty walk would break into a jerky little run, followed by

some wonderful sudden turns in mid-air that almost defied the eye to

follow as he sought some luckless winged insect, and, judging by the

continous snapping of his beak, many met their death. Sooner or

later, however, a fresh cast of my line would send him looping' to

the next floating hunting ground. At the particular point mentioned

the river runs through two or three rough damp meadows, freely

sprinkled with tussocks of coarse grass, and thus admirably suitable

as a nesting haunt for these birds.


One afternoon in June I wandered across these same meadows

with my camera, keeping a sharp look-out for any movement on the

part of the birds that would give me a clue as to the whereabouts of

the nest. By freely using my field glasses I was not long in finding

a nest of young, but, unfortunately for my purpose, they were too

far advanced in life ; in fact, they were on the point of leaving the

nest. It now being late in the season, I abandoned all hope of

photographing' the Yellow Wagtail that year. However, I resolved

to remember my little yellow bird friends when they returned from



