180 On the Ornithology of Wilts \_Motaeillidce]. 



< 



this country in large flocks in the winter of 1685: Gilbert White 

 records its visit in 1767 : Bewick in 1790, 1791: Selby in 1810, 

 1822/ and 1823: Yarrell in 1830, 1831, 1834, and 1835, since 

 which with the exception of an occasional straggler it has only ap- 

 peared in 1848 and 1850, the latter year in immense numbers, and 

 nothing has been seen of it in England since. Its true habitat is 

 Northern Asia, and the North Eastern parts of Europe, where a 

 friend of mine two years since discovered its nest and eggs which 

 up to that time were unknown to science. It is a handsome, gay 

 bird, of a cinnamon brown colour, tinged with red : the feathers 

 on the head are long and silkj in texture, forming a crest, but the 

 peculiarity from which it takes its name, consists in its having on 

 the tips of the wing quill feathers, little flat scarlet horny append- 

 ages, exactly resembling drops of red sealing wax : the tail fea- 

 thers are tipped with pale yellow. Its natural food appears to be 

 the berries of the hawthorn, juniper, and mountain ash ; and it 

 usually associates in flocks. I was told in Norway that this bird 

 visits that country also at irregular periods, many years sometimes 

 elapsing between its visits. It was as abundant throughout Scan- 

 dinavia in 1850 as it was here. I have many notices of its occur- 

 rence in this county. Mr. Marsh has seen it in the woods at Win- 

 terslow, and states that a pair were killed in Clarendon Park in 

 1820. Mr. Withers tells me that many were killed at Potterne in 

 1850 ; and (besides a few more instances) the Rev. H. Hare of 

 Bradford sent me notice of one killed in his field Dec. 7th, 1857. 



MOTACILLIDiE {The Wagtails). 



Graceful and elegant are the epithets best suited to this family, 

 as everybody will confess who has watched their engaging manners, 

 running along the grass-plots, darting by the streams, and ever 

 flirting their long tails, which alone seem to preserve their equili- 

 brium, as they hurry this side and that, and seem in danger of 

 losing their balance. They are of slender form and very active, 

 the lightest and most buoyant of birds; and as most of them re- 

 main with us during the winter, they are doubly valued and doubly 

 welcome. 



