220 MOTACILLIDiE. 



familiarity and tameness, were supposed to be the same, and 

 were seen every day from this time until the end of winter. They 

 were occasionally half a dozen times, during a day, in the yard ; 

 where, and in the neighbouring tan-yards, they literally " picked 

 up " an honest livelihood. The museum itself has been entered 

 by one of them, which was found perching on the bannisters. 

 Since the first-mentioned period to the present — September 13th, 

 1848 — when their first appearance for the season was observed, 

 they have been regular autumnal and winter visitants. The pied 

 wagtail likewise frequents these yards. Mr. Poole correctly re- 

 marks that the species under consideration is very partial, espe- 

 cially in winter, to the vicinity of dunghills ; and will sometimes 

 pick food while on wing from the surface of the water. 



The situations generally selected for the nest are holes in walls, 

 the preference being given to those of bridges, about mill-wheels, or 

 otherwise contiguous to water. In the romantic glens of the Belfast 

 mountains they also build, and for this purpose a pair generally 

 resorts to a fissure of the rock, beside a picturesque cascade at 

 " the Falls/' just such a place as would be chosen by the water- 

 ouzel. On the 1 8th of March a pair of grey wagtails, " with black 

 patch on throat," have been noted, apparently contemplating nidi- 

 fication, at Wolf-hill, by minutely examining their former breeding 

 haunts ; and on the 12th of May, the young of the first brood 

 were seen on wing, though still requiring their parents' aid to 

 feed them : occasionally there is a second brood. The nest is 

 generally formed of grasses or other delicate plants, and lined 

 with horse-hair. It is singular, that they generally manage to pick 

 up enough of this last material for lining : four nests at Wolf -hill 

 in one season were all lined with it ; the eggs were usually four 

 in number, and during incubation the beautiful and innocent bird 

 would admit of a close approach. I have invariably remarked the 

 female, as well as the male, to possess the black mark on the 

 throat in the nuptial season, but the colour was of a lighter shade. 

 After Montagu and Selby it may seem unnecessary to allude to 

 this, but Temminck's having described it as characteristic of the 

 male only, has induced the observation. Throughout the winter 



