SOME GARDEN BIRDS 



run backwards and forwards on the lawn, 

 each with his or her beak full of material, 

 waiting until you are out of sight, when, if you 

 peep round a corner, you will see them flying 

 up to the nest, the whereabouts of which 

 they were so anxious to keep to themselves. 

 For sixteen years running pied wagtails have 

 built their nest on the house, and as the present 

 owners of the nesting site can hardly be the 

 original pair — ^for small birds, though un- 

 doubtedly living longer than they are generally 

 supposed to, can hardly be credited with reach- 

 ing the age of sixteen or seventeen years— the 

 question arises as to whether they are the 

 young of the first ones. Or is the matter 

 arranged, when any accident happens to one of 

 the pair, by the survivor bringing home another 

 mate ? I cannot say ; all I know is that 

 every spring the wagtails come home to their 

 old nesting site, and, not content with one 

 family, generally build a second nest after 

 getting rid of their first brood, and launch a 

 another lot of nestlings into the world. 



I think one of the prettiest sights I have 

 ever watched, was when I had put up a small 

 hiding tent in front of a pied wagtail's nest, 

 for the purpose of photographing the old ones 



N 193 



