and much quicker than the Grey Wagtail, with which 
species this is frequently confounded ; the note of the 
Yellow is not so shrill nor drawn out to such a length as 
those of the other species. 
The Yellow Wagtail arrives in tliis country from the 
14th of March to the 1st of April, and it quits about the 
latter-end of September or beginning of October, and retire 
southwards ; but it is said to remain throughout the year in 
some parts of France, and also in the Sicilies. It nestles 
usually on the ground; the nest is composed of dried stalks, 
grass, and horse-hair; it lays four or five pale-brown eggs, 
splashed with dusky; the young at first have scarcely any 
appearance of yellow, except under the throat. They are 
very tenacious of the nest, and will hover round the 
vicinity of it for a great length of time, rather than 
discover their retreat to an observer ; we have seen the 
female, with a worm in her bill for more than an hour, 
flying with the greatest anxiety over the heads of some 
mowers who were at work near the nest, nor did she 
attempt to venture to it, till after they had quitted the field. 
It usually affects drier situations than the other species, 
frequenting commons, pastures, and corn fields ; it feeds 
on worms and insects, and may often be seen running 
round cattle whilst feeding, and will often seize a fly 
from off the nose of a cow or horse ; in cold damp weather 
numbers of them resort to pastures in quest of worms, 
which are at that time roused by the trampling of the 
cattle ; their more common food (insects) at such times 
being but scantily to be met with, 
1 
f 
