YELLOW WAGTAIL 
85 
are dislodged by them out of the grass. The 
Yellow Wagtail is a little smaller than its relatives, 
and is easily distinguishable ; its breast and belly 
are yellow, like those of the Grey Wagtail, but its 
upper parts are greenish-olive, with a darker tail. 
It is interesting to watch it in the meadows, leap- 
ing up and catching some midge-like insect under 
the very noses of the cattle ; but it has scarcely so 
much grace and dash in its movements as the Grey 
Wagtail. The nest is built on the ground in some 
slight hollow among standing grass, or green corn, 
or marsh-marigolds and other such stream-side 
plants. It is generally extremely well-concealed. 
Building begins about the second week in May, 
and the materials used are chiefly moss and dry 
grassy stems, with hair and fine fibrous roots for 
the lining. Five is the usual number of the eggs, 
which are rather smaller than those of the other 
Wagtails ; they are of the same general type as the 
Grey Wagtail's, but fairly easy to distinguish, even 
apart from the situation of the nest. Their ground 
colour is dull greyish-white, but it is almost 
covered by dense, curdled markings of dingy 
yellowish or greenish-brown. The egg much 
resembles the Sedge Warbler's in the fashion of its 
markings, but they cover it rather less densely, 
and the colour is a good deal dingier, and with no 
reddish tinge. 
