The Grey Wagtail. 183 



says "in the latter half of April in England, but earlier in the south of Europe," 

 whilst an observant Scot, John Craig, in a letter to the "Feathered World" (May 

 8th, 1896), insists upon it that in North Ayrshire it "begins to lay in the first 

 week of April " ! Speaking of it in the Parnassus, Seebohm observes " I obtained 

 several nests of fresh-laid eggs in the middle and end of May ; but these appeared 

 to be second broods, as I shot several young birds of the year." 



As a rule this bird selects a rocky bank, a hole in the wall of an old water- 

 mill, or a crevice in a bank, under an overhanging ledge and well concealed by 

 rank herbage ; but there is no rule without exceptions, for Seebohm says he once 

 " saw one built in the fork of three stems of an alder, close to the ground, almost 

 overlapping the river " ; whilst I took a nest in Kent (from which we flushed the 

 female bird) built in a furrow of a ploughed field near the creek at Kemsley, close 

 to Sheppey.* This nest is constructed of root fibre, interwoven with coarse dry 

 grass, cow-, and horse-hair ; the lining being very thick, and formed of black 

 horse-hair, white cow-hair, and wool. The usual materials, according to Seebohm, 

 are fine roots, with a few stalks of dry grass in the outer and coarser portions, 

 and a lining of cow-hair, the preference being given to white ; Howard Saunders 

 adds moss to the outer walls, and does not specify the nature or colour of the 

 hair-lining; Lord Lilford says that it "much resembles that of the Pied Wagtail, 

 but is considerably smaller": other authorities mention feathers as forming part 

 of the lining, but Wagtails are not much addicted to the use of such material. 



The eggs, according to several authorities, are smaller than those of the 

 Yellow Wagtail ; although the Grey Wagtail is by far the larger bird : in my nest, 

 however, the eggs were fully as large as the largest eggs of the Pied Wagtail, 

 and in my opinion Eord Lilford' s description is most likely to be accurate ; at any 

 rate it exactly accords with my solitary experience : — " The eggs are usually five 

 in number, of a creamy white, closely blotched or clouded with pale yellowish 

 brown, and may be distinguished from those of the commoner Yellow Wagtail 

 (Motacilla rail) by their larger size and the absence of the hair-like dark streaks 

 which in most cases are found on the eggs of the latter bird." Unless a man 

 not only takes the nest himself, but actually sees the parent bird leave it, the 

 nest alone is not sufiScient evidence on which to identify the eggs of one of these 

 yellow species of Wagtail ; yet there is no doubt that, in many cases, their iden- 

 tification rests upon no better basis than the assertions of rustics, who almost 

 invariably confound the Grey Wagtail with the Yellow. 



The food of the Grey Wagtail consists largely of insects, their larvae, centi- 



* This nest was first observed by the plough-boy whilst guiding his horses, aud knowing that I was 

 collecting nests and eggs he carefully avoided it, so that it lay on the side of the furrow, a clod of earth 

 partly protecting it. 



