66 



THE FOOD OF ANIMALS 



tion: — "It is impossible ever to weary of Wagtails. We are never 

 altogether without them, yet whenever they present themselves to 

 us we are constrained to give them our attention. . . . They all 



Ffg. 356.— Yellow Wagtail {Motacilla Jiava^ 



walk, or rather run, instead of hopping, their delicate little legs 

 being often in such swift motion as hardly to be seen as they go ; 

 and all feed chiefly on insects — largely, I think, on minute beetles 



Fig. 357. — Black-tailed Godwit [Limosa Belgica) 



— and love our British streams and meadows for the never-failing 

 abundance of food they find there." 



The sea-shore is a favourite resort of many birds besides the 



