i82 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 



are greenish-yellow ; the wing coverts brownish-black with pale margins ; flights 

 blackish-brown; the secondaries margined with bufiish- white ; the three outermost 

 tail feathers white ; the second and third pairs with a great part of the onter web 

 brownish-black ; the six central feathers brownish-black edged with greenish-yellow ; 

 a narrow arched white superciliary stripe ; a second white stripe from the base of 

 the lower mandible to the neck, bordering a black gorget which covers the throat 

 and breast ; remainder of under surface bright sulphur-yellow ; bill black ; feet 

 brown ; iris dark brown. The female is slightly smaller than the male, has a 

 shorter tail, duller colouring, and little or no black on the throat. After the 

 autumn moult the black disappears entirely, the throat becoming white and the 

 breast tinted with sandy-buff. Birds of the year are like adults in winter plumage, 

 excepting that they are browner above, with the superciliary stripe and under 

 surface washed with buff. 



The Grey Wagtail is especially fond of the vicinity of water, haunting 

 mountain streams, rushing rivers, and tumbling torrents : such localities as the 

 Dipper delights in, form the chosen home of this most elegant of all the Motacillida. 

 But it is not only seen in the wilder regions, even during the breeding season ; 

 for a few pairs remain to bring up a family even in the most level and prosaic 

 parts of the southern counties ; and, in the autumn and winter months, it not 

 uncommonly becomes a prize of the birdcatchers of Kent and Surrey, who by no 

 means regard it as any great capture, but willingly part with it at prices varying 

 from ninepence to eighteen pence according to the purchaser. 



Early in the present year (1896) our postman informed me that a foreign 

 bird had flown into his house, and asked if I had lost one. I replied in the 

 negative and asked for information as to its form, colouring, etc. Finally he 

 fetched it to show me, and I at once recognised it as a male Grey Wagtail just 

 commencing its change of plumage : the man had been trying to feed it on 

 Canary-seed, and when he discovered that it would need special soft food and 

 insects, he willingly gave it to me. 



The Grey Wagtail, in its actions, flight, song, and expressive notes, much 

 resembles the other forms ; but it is more solitary than either the Pied or Yellow 

 Wagtails ; each pair appearing to occupy an area apart from others of its own 

 species ; whereas one may see three or four pairs of either the Pied or Yellow 

 Wagtails within the limits of a comparatively small area during the breeding- 

 season. In the autumn only does the Grey Wagtail appear to be more sociable 

 because the young usually accompany their parents until winter is well advanced. 



The Grey Wagtail is double-brooded, usually commencing its first nest in 

 April, Seebohm says " towards the end of April or early in May," Howard Saunders 



