The Pied Wagtail. 177 



Although usually seen in the neighbourhood of streams, dykes, pools, ponds, 

 and puddles, it is not uncommonly met with far from water in grazing-ground, 

 ploughed fields, especially when the furrows are newly formed ; whilst in the winter 

 it often enters gardens, and approaches close to the houses of the owners, if 

 rendered hungry by stress of weather. Old brickfields are a common resort of 

 this species, more especially where the emptied clay-deposits have filled up with 

 water, and their margins have become fringed with coarse vegetation : indeed all 

 Wagtails seem to delight in such a scene of desolation, for on one morning about 

 the end of May, 1883, I saw the Pied-, Blue-headed-, and Yellow Wagtails in a 

 large field of this description at Murston, near Sittingbourne, Kent. 



The springy see-sawing of the tail, common to all the Motacillidce, has probablj^ 

 earned for them in Kent the title of " Whipjack," whilst the fondness of Wagtails 

 for bathing in shallow water explains their more wide-spread nickname of " Dish- 

 washer;" the latter name and that by which they are known in Sussex — Chizzic 

 (the origin of which is evident) apply more particularly to the Pied Wagtail than 

 to the others. 



The song of this species is very pleasing ; not unlike that of a Swallow : 

 personally I prefer it to that of the Linnet, inasmuch as it is purer and less 

 chuckling in character and better sustained, though not so loud and much more 

 rarely heard. In flight, as on the ground, the actions of this and all Wagtails 

 are graceful ; for on the wing they move in a series of wide undulations or dips, 

 but on their slender nimble legs they walk with head erect but slightly bobbing 

 forward at each step ; or they run, with head lowered and craned forward : their 

 power of turning in the air is astounding ; few insects, however eccentric their 

 flight, can hope to escape them. If a Wagtail is on the ground and it sees an 

 insect flying towards it, instead of at once starting madly forward to meet its 

 prey, it excitedly watches all the insect's movements, and suddenly (when the 

 latter is almost overhead) the agile bird rises with a rapid spiral movement which 

 looks almost like a somersault, the snap of its mandibles is heard and all is over. 

 In sunny weather one may frequently see the Pied Wagtail running along the 

 ridge of a roof, a stone coping, or an old wall, catching the flies as they start up 

 at its approach, and frequently uttering its cheerful little cry " chizzic" as each 

 new victim is perceived : whether this is its call-note or the shrill monosyllabic 

 short whistle (into which the bird can throw so much expression that it almost 

 seems to speak) I do not know for certain, but I am inclined, from long study of 

 this species in captivity, to believe that ''chizzic" is merely a cry of excitement. 



The Pied Wagtail usually builds its nest in hollows in banks, sides of deserted 

 chalk-pits, Sand-Martins' holes, gaps in brickwork under rustic bridges, in a hole 



