WAGTAILS. 141 



flying near the water, and wade through the shallows in 

 search of small beetles and sand-worms. Ever and anon 

 the. ever active and vigilant Wagtails are seen to sally 

 into the air, to obtain the insects flitting hither and thither 

 over the placid surface of the waters. ■ On the sea shore, 

 too, the Wagtail is frequently seen running nimbly on 

 the borders of the boundless deep, and feeding upon the 

 small marine animals which are left in such abundance 

 by the receding waves. 



Another species of Wagtail commonly seen in the 

 country is the Yellow Wagtail, a bird differing both in 

 habits and appearance from the Pied species. While we 

 see the Pied Wagtail on the pastures, or running nimbly 

 by the margins of lakes and streams, or even on the 

 shores of the briny deep, we seldom see the Yellow 

 Wagtail near the waters. He is in fact a bird of the 

 pastures, on which he almost exclusively lives throughout 

 the season Nature has allotted him to reside amongst us. 

 It is only when snow lies deep on his favourite meadow 

 and the ground is hard frozen that we see him on the 

 banks of the streamlets, unless they wander through his 

 pastoral haunt : then, however, he may be seen near 

 them pretty frequently. Like the Pied Wagtail, he 

 quits his pastures in the late autumn months and returns 

 the following spring. Yellow Wagtails are probably the 

 first birds, among all the varied train that speed here 

 with the spring, that we see after the chilling comfortless 

 season of winter is passed. But this migratory instinct 

 is not so imperative in the Yellow Wagtail as in the 

 Swallow, for we sometimes see them running as nimbly 

 over the frozen snow as over the grassy sward of mid- 

 summer. 



All Wagtails, and, indeed, many other birds, possess 

 the habit of jerking the tail with an easy fanlike motion. 



