448 



Water Wagtails. 



flocks the liver-fluke [Distoma hepaticiun). Species ot 

 Liinncea have been found in the crops of all the three 

 Wagtails commonly met with. It Avas not actually 

 ascertained that the snails were Liunicua truncattila^ 

 but there can be no doubt that if these birds feed 

 upon one species of Li/iuicea, they would also feed upon 

 LimncBa truncaMa^ a small thin-shelled snail coming from 

 watercourses and wet ditches to marsh pastures and low- 

 lying grass-land. It is stated upon good authority that 

 another and smaller species of LimncEa^ known as LinmcEa 

 pereger, of similar habit as L. truncatula^ is also a host of the 

 liver-fluke. Where there are no snails of these particular 

 species there can be no liver-fluke or rot in sheep, and it 

 there are plenty of Water Wagtails snails will not long exist. 



The Grey Wagtail is not quite so large as the Pied 

 Wagtail. In colour it is blue-grey or slate, with a line ot 

 white and a white patch above the eyes. It has a black 

 chin and throat ; the breast, belly, and under side of the 

 tail are yellow ; the beak and feet are black ; and the wings 

 dark, tipped with ligjit olive. It builds early in the spring, 

 generally in banks, a nest lined with hair, much like that 

 of the Pied Wagtail, and lays five eggs as a rule, though 

 sometimes as many as seven have been seen. The eggs 

 are of a creamy white colour, speckled with light brown 

 blotches. 



The Yellow Wagtail [Motacilla Rati) is not a winter 

 resident in this country, but appears in March, and leaves 

 in September and October. It is generally distributed 

 throughout England, but is not common in Scotland, except 

 in the more southern counties, whilst in Ireland it is 

 rarely seen. On the first arrival of the immigrants they are 

 found in marshes and grass land, but soon pair and go to the 

 cultivated fields, where they may be seen hunting for insects 

 and following the plough with assiduity, swallowing milli- 

 pedes, wire worms, and other insects as they are turned up. 

 Breeding begins early, and after the young are hatched, 

 the birds move off to meadows, marshes, and pastures, where 

 they follow cattle and sheep for the insects around them, and 

 may be seen busily hunting for all kinds of insects, upon 



