i84 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 



pedes, spiders, and small moUusca ; but in winter the last-mentioned, small worms, 

 and a few seeds of weeds are eaten. 



My first experience of this charming bird in captivity, was in September, 

 1888, when a friend netted two females and gave them to me; I turned them, at 

 first, into a large cage, but one of them refused to eat, and died the following 

 daj^ : the other bird I transferred to a large aviary, where, in three days, it became 

 so tame that it not only took mealworms from my fingers, but ran between my 

 feet as I stood in the aviary ; moreover within a year it followed me about ; and 

 whenever I passed by the aviary, it flew up to the wire and called me. Unhappily 

 I turned in a cock Pied Wagtail with it, and the latter bird so persecuted the 

 poor thing (invariably chasing it away from the food pan when it attempted to 

 eat) that, early in December, 1889, it died of starvation. 



Several years ago (1892) Mr. Staines, of Penge, formerly a rather successful 

 exhibitor of Wagtails, gave me a male of this species which had been for some 

 time in his possession ; I turned it out into a cool aviary, where it came into 

 superb plumage, and soon became very tame ; though less so than my first (female) 

 example : this and a second male, previously referred to, were still flourishing when 

 I wrote this article, but Mr. Staines' bird has since died (August 1896). 



Familx—MOTA CILLID^. 



The Blue-Headed Wagtail. 



Motacilla flava, LiNN. 



SEEBOHM gives the following as the geographical distribution of this species : 

 " extending from the British Islands across Europe and Asia at least as far 

 as the Rocky Alountains of America. It is common across the Channel, and is 

 found in Scandinavia south of lat. 60°, which appears also to be the northern limit 

 of its range in Russia. In Western Europe it is found down to Gibraltar, and 

 crosses the Straits into Tangiers ; but in Eastern Europe it does not breed so far 



