96 



BIRDS. 



Family MOTACILLID-ffi. 



Motacilla lugubris, Temm. Pied Wagtail. 



Resident. Also partial or passing migrant. Common throughout 

 (1880). Not truly gregarious. More abundant in some summers 

 than in others. Some remain all winter ; but there is a considerable 

 migration " steadily moAdng southwards along the east coast all day, 

 in small trips and companies, along with Wheatears." So says 

 Mr. John Cordeaux when referring to Lincolnshire ; and he adds : 

 "This migration and also residency even in severe winters may have 

 been influenced by the greater cultivation of turnip ground and crop 

 in Lincolnshire " ; but Col. Drummond Hay, remarking upon this, 

 thinks " this has not much to do with it in Tay." 



Mr. Milne does not appear to consider it at all abundant near the 

 east coast. 



Found generally dispersed all along the Tay valley from the islands 

 on far Loch Luydan, on the Moor of Rannoch, down the river Gower, 

 along Loch Rannoch, down the Tay, and eastwards at least in equal 

 abundance as far as the centre of Strathmore, and among the valleys 

 of the eastern Grampians in the summer season, but becoming much 

 rarer by winter in the same haunts. 



Mr. Milne instances a somewhat unusual site for a nest of the Pied 

 Wagtail, viz. in the fork of an elm-tree about eleven feet from the 

 ground, with young ones, on 29th July, the tree being close to the side 

 of the Luther Burn, which runs through the village of Auchenblae — 

 the peculiarity being, I presume, in its being quite open above and 

 under no shelter. 



It is equally common in Glen Ogle and along the loch and river 

 Earn, and I have met with it, old and young, as late as September — 

 no doubt a late brood — at Dalclathic Bridge in Glen Artney. 



Pied Wagtails appear to be irregular in their annual movements, 

 some years frequenting certain spots in vast flocks in autumn, and 

 almost utterly leaving the same unvisited in others ; whilst at other 

 localities a regular migration may be observed during many consecu- 

 tive seasons. The Rev. Mr. M'Connochie writes me as follows : 

 "The Pied Wagtail is fairly common by the streams and amongst 

 the rubble of old quarries. Four or five years ago great numbers of 

 Pied Wagtails came for shelter every evening to the evergreens 

 round the manse. Some evenings there seemed to be as many as 

 from sixty to seventy birds, all beautifully marked males. Many came 

 from a long distance, judging from the height of their flight before 



