202 



BRITISH BIRDS. 



as nimbly as their congeners, often chasing each other through the air 

 and very often flying in search of an insect. The White Wagtail often 

 perches on trees and is fond of running along roofs of buildings or on 

 walls. It roosts in trees, generally selecting some bare slender twig for 

 the purpose, and before and after the breeding-season frequently repairs to 

 old reed-beds, where it spends the night with the Starlings and other birds. 

 Its food consists of insects, small beetles, larvae and small worms, 

 moUusks, and grubs. It is a very active lively little bird, running hither 

 and thither, and repeatedly taking a short flight like a Flycatcher. Its 

 song- and call-notes appear scarcely to differ from those of the Pied Wag- 

 tail, although some naturalists have asserted that there is a recognizable 

 difference in the call-note of the two species. 



The adult male White Wagtail in breeding-plumage has the forehead, 

 the sides of the head and neck, and the underparts below the breast pure 

 white, shading into slate-grey on the flanks. The rest of the head and the 

 nape is jet-black ; the general colour of the upper parts below the nape, 

 including the lesser wing-coverts, is slate-grey, shading into nearly black 

 on the upper tail-coverts ; the quills are brown ; the innermost secondaries 

 and the greater wing-coverts are brownish black, broadly margined with 

 white, and the median wing-coverts are tipped with white; the tail is 

 black, except the greater portion of the two outermost feathers, which are 

 white. The chin, throat, and breast are black. Bill, legs, feet, and claws 

 black ; irides dark brown. The female somewhat closely resembles the 

 male ; but the black on the head does not extend so far on the nape and is 

 suffused with brown, and the slate-grey of the back is not so blue. The 

 changes which take place in the plumage of this bird are similar to those 

 of the preceding species. 



