278 
OBSERVATIONS ON BIRDS. 
it not more probable that they are awakened from sleep, and like 
the bats are come forth to collect a little food ? Bats appear 
at all seasons through the autumn and spring months, when the 
thermometer is at 50, because then phalaenae and moths are 
stirring. These swallows looked like young ones. 
WAGTAILS. 
While the cows are feeding in the moist low pastures, broods 
of wagtails, white and gray, run round 
them, close up to their noses, and 
under their very bellies, availing them- 
selves of the flies that settle on their 
legs, and probably finding worms and 
larvce that are roused by the trampling 
of their feet. Nature is such an econo- 
mist, that the most incongruous ani- 
mals can avail themselves of each 
other ! Interest makes strange friendships.* 
WRYNECK. 
These birds appear on the grass-plots and walks ; they walk a 
Uttle as well as hop, and thrust their bills into the turf, in quest, 
I conclude, of ants, which are their food. While they hold their 
bills in the grass, they draw out their prey with their tongues, 
which are so long as to be coiled round their heads.f 
and Captain Wright saw vast flocks of them at sea, when on their passage from one country to 
another. Our author, Mr. White, saw what he deemed the actual migration of these birds, and 
which he has described at p. 65 of his History of Selborne ; and of their congregating together on 
the roofs of churches and other buildings, and on trees, previous to their departure, many in- 
stances occur, particularly I once observed a large flock of house-martins on the roof of the 
church here at Catsfield, which acted exactly in the manner here described by Mr. White, some- 
times preening their feathers and spreading their wings to the sun, and then flying ofl^ all together, 
but soon returning to their former situation. The greatest part of these birds seemed to be young 
ones. — Mark WICK. 
* Birds continually avail themselves of particular and unusual circumstances to procure their 
food ; thus wagtails keep playing about the noses and legs of cattle as they feed, in qnest of flies 
and other insects which abound near those animals ; and great numbers of them will follow close 
to the plough to devour the worms, &c., that are turned up by that instrument. The redbreast 
attends the gardener when digging his borders; and will, with great familiarity and tameness, 
pick out the worms, almost close to his spade, as 1 have frequently seen. Starlings and magpies 
very often sit on the backs of sheep and deer to pick out their ticks. — Markwick. 
t This curious and very beautifully marked species is particularly common in many parts of 
Surrey, where it is known by various names, as cuckoo's-mate, pay-pay, snake bird, &c., the s'lcoud 
term being obviously derived from its hawk-like note. Though its foot closelj' resembles that of 
many woodpeckers, it is very rarely indeed seen to climb, but that it can do so I have had occa- 
sion to witness ; it presses, however, its soft tail against the bark, the structure of which sufficiently 
