The Pied Wagtail. 



327 



pointed. The eyes are dark hazel. The back part of the head 

 and neck is black ; the fore part of the head, the cheeks, and 

 the sides of the neck, are quite white. The back, lesser wing 

 coverts, sides of breast, and rump, are a deep bluish ashen grey. 

 The wings are brownish black ; the coverts and secondary pen 

 feathers are bordered with broad margins of greyish white,^ 

 which produce bars of white across the closed wings. The- 

 large pen feathers are almost black, with pale margins. The- 

 tail is black, with the exception of the two outermost feathers 

 on each side, the external ones being almost wholly white, 

 excepting at the base and tips of the inner web, and those 

 adjoining marked with a wedge-shaped, white spot. The 

 throat, under part of the neck, and upper portion of the breast, 

 are black. From the face, and surrounding the velvety black 

 breast marking, is a narrow line of white, in the form of a 

 crescent ; but this is not observable in old birds. The lower 

 part of the breast and belly is white. The legs and feet are 

 black, the former being rather slender. 



Pied Wagtails differ considerably in plumage, according to 

 age and sex. In young birds, the upper parts of the body are 

 grey, the belly and throat dingy white, the wings both paler 

 and greyer than in moulted specimens, and all the colours less 

 bright, and fainter in hue. Young birds also occasionally have 

 white throats. 



Habits and Breeding. — The Pied Wagtail is a migratory 

 bird ; it is met with in Norway and Sweden, as well as in this 

 country. A few of these birds remain with us all the year round, 

 but the greater number migrate in the autumn, and make their 

 way to some more genial climate, where flies and insects are 

 plentiful ; they most probably find their way to Africa, or 

 to the south of France and Italy. They arrive in England in 

 March, and leave again in October. They usually locate them- 

 selves in the immediate neighbourhood of rivers, brooks, sand 

 banks, and marshy wastes. Their nests are frequently found on 

 the banks of rivers, in the crevices of rocks, beneath huge 

 boulders, between two stones on the brink of a river sheltered 

 by the growth of tall grass or weeds, or in holes in walls. The 

 nest is lightly put together, and is made with dried grass or 

 hay, roots and moss, and lined with horse or cow hair, feathers, 

 wool, or swine's bristles. The hen lays from four to six whitish 

 eggs, spotted with brown, and incubates about fourteen days. 



