PIED WAGTAIL.— WHITE WAGTAIL. 93 



In August and September its numbers on the coast greatly 

 increase by the arrival of flocks, while by the end of October 

 the greater part of them have crossed the sea. The birds 

 which remain during the winter flock together, often follow- 

 ing the plough, or seeking their food in the sheep-fold, 

 especially where the turnips have been half eaten and left 

 in the ground, probably finding in their substance the larvae 

 of some insect or other. The flight of this bird is very un- 

 dulating, and it keeps up a constant dissyllabic note, whether 

 alone or in companies, while on the wing. It is commonly 

 known in Sussex by the name of "Dishwasher." 



WHITE WAGTAIL. 



Motacilla alba. 



This species occurs on the coast as regularly as the Pied 

 Wagtail, but I can find no earlier mention of it in Sussex, 

 than a note of my own (' Zoologist,' p. 3908) for April 21st, 

 1853, on which day I carefully examined five specimens, 

 four of which, one being a female, had been shot between 

 Shoreham and Worthing, and the fifth at Hove, all in the 

 possession of Mr. Swaysland, of Brighton. The female con- 

 tained eggs not larger than a pin's head. I exhibited these 

 birds at the Anniversary Meeting of the Linnean Society, 

 May 24th, 1853. April 6th, 1854, a male and female were 

 shot at Hove, near Brighton, close to some ploughed land, 

 though they are said not to follow the plough like M. %«- 

 Iris, which led the editor of Yarrell's ' British Birds '' (vol. i. 

 p. 550) to suggest that the food of this species may be dif- 

 ferent. Mr. Swaysland informed me that they were wilder, 

 and had a hoarser note. The male had a singular malforma- 

 tion, there being on one foot two perfectly formed hind toes. 



