﻿38 Birds 



stripe ; the wing and tail feathers greyish-brown margined with 

 olive-yellow, a blackish band across the secondaries, coverts tipped 

 with whitish ; under-parts olive-buff. The female has a lemon- 

 yellow crown. Bill and feet dark brown. 



PIED WAGTAIL. 



Motacilla lugubris. 



The Pied Wagtail is common and generally distributed over 

 the British Islands, and is partly resident, except in the extreme 

 north of Scotland, whence a migration southwards takes place. 

 It migrates from the south-west to the Continent in September, 

 and returns westward in the spring. 



The nest of this bird is placed in various situations, under the 

 •eaves of thatched buildings, ivy-covered trees, walls, and banks, 

 holes in old walls, rocks, and similar retreats. The eggs vary in 

 number from four to six, the latter being the normal number ; 

 they are usually greyish or greenish-grey-white in ground-colour, 

 densely speckled with dark grey or grey -brown. 



The haunts of this familiar bird are varied ; marshlands, 

 pastures, ploughed fields, uplands, gardens, banks of rivers and 

 the neighbourhood of water generally, are all suitable resorts. 



The food of the Pied Wagtail consists of all kinds of insects, 

 spiders, centipedes, wood-lice, and other destructive pests. An 

 enormous number of flies of many species are destroyed by this 

 very beneficial bird. 



In breeding plumage the male shows a striking contrast of 

 colours ; the forehead, sides of the head and neck are pure white ; 

 the crown, nape, throat and breast a rich deep black, rest of upper 

 parts black ; secondaries and coverts margined with white, tail black 

 except the two outer feathers, which are white ; belly white, 

 flanks greyish-black ; bill, legs and feet black. The female has 

 a shorter tail and the back is leaden-grey. 



YELLOW WAGTAIL. (PI. XXI.) 

 Motacilla rayi. 



The Yellow, or Bay's Wagtail is a summer migrant, and is 

 generally distributed over England and Wales in localities suited 



