122 PIED WAGTAIL. 
On the Continent the Pied Wagtail is almost restricted to the 
western portion. It occurs, and perhaps breeds, in the south-west 
of Scandinavia ; visits Denmark ; passes over Heligoland, Holland 
and Belgium on the spring migration, and nests sparingly in the north- 
west of France; while in the south-west I observed that males of 
this species and of the White Wagtail were in full plumage from 
the latter part of December to the end of March, after which 
both disappeared. The Pied Wagtail arrives in Portugal about 
October zoth, and leaves in March, in the which month I obtained 
an adult male at Seville, Spain; and it occurs near Tangier in 
Morocco. Eastward, it has been met with irregularly in autumn 
from Nice to Sardinia, Sicily, and Malta 
Breeding generally begins early in April ; the nest—of moss, dry 
grass and roots, lined with hair and feathers—being in some cleft of a 
bank, wall, rock or quarry, a decayed or pollarded tree, the thatch 
of a building, a faggot stack, or even an open field. The Cuckoo 
often places her egg in it. The 4-6 eggs are greyish-white, closely 
speckled and streaked with ash-brown: measurements ‘8 by ‘6 in. 
Two broods are often reared in the season. The bird feeds 
principally on insects obtained in the meadows, moist ground, and 
shallow water, to which it is partial; on the coast it eats the flies 
&c. found amongst the sea-drift, and Mr. Tait observed it hovering 
over the water to pick up the floating ova of a small crab, while 
Booth says that it is fond of glow-worms. The call-note is a sharp 
chiz-zic ; the song, seldom heard except in spring, is short but agree- 
able. The quick running movements of this pretty bird, and the 
lively motion of its long tail, must be familiar to every one. 
Adult male in breeding-plumage: forehead and sides of the head 
and neck pure white, contrasting strongly with the deep black of the 
crown, nape, throat and breast; mantle, rump and wing-coverts 
black, the latter with white margins which form a double bar; quills 
blackish, the inner secondaries—nearly as long as the primaries— 
margined with white on the outer edge ; tail-feathers black, except 
the two outer pairs which are mainly white ; belly white ; sides and 
flanks blackish ; bill, legs and feet black. Length 7:3 in. ; wing 
3°5in. The female has a shorter tail, the back is lead-grey with 
somewhat darker streaks, and the black on the crown and breast is 
less extensive. After the autumn moult both sexes lose the black 
chin and throat, and become greyer on the back. The young are 
like those of AZ. a/ba, next to be described, but darker on the upper 
parts. 
