Its Quest for Food. 7 7 



itself amongst its friends. There they are ; now walking out 

 into the water, and looking round for food. Now they are on 

 the shore again, running rapidly along, picking up, now and 

 then, a dainty morsel, and every moment spreading out the 

 ever-vibrating tail. Now they are in the adjoining meadow, 

 each one in pursuit of a fly, which it has no sooner caught, than it 

 spies another. The lazy geese, which have nibbled the 

 grass bare, allow the wagtail to pass in their midst without 

 molestation. When the cows are grazing in the midst of a 

 swarm of gnats and other insects, as Gilbert White says, as 

 they tread amongst the bush herbage they rouse up multitudes 

 of insects which settle on their legs, their stomachs, and even 

 their noses, and the wagtails are welcomed by the coa^s as 

 benefactors. Watch them, for they are worth the trouble ; see, 

 one comes forward and catches a small fly, bends to one side to 

 seize another, darts to the right after a third, and springs some 

 feet in the air before it secures a fourth, and all this time others 

 are running about after other flies, passing close to the cows' 

 noses or amongst their feet. With all this running to and fro, 

 and hither and thither, they every now and then run in each 

 other' sway; but they do not quarrel, aware, no doubt, that 

 there is room enough for them in the world, nay, even in the 

 meadow, though it now seems to be full of wagtails, all busily 

 occupied, some walking, others running, a few flying off and 

 many arriving. You may walk in amongst them ; they are not 

 very shy, for they will allow you to come within a few yards of 

 them. They may always be met with on the shore when the 

 tide is out, as well as in the meadow ; you will meet with them 

 by the river-side, or by the mill-dam. Occasionally you may see 



