grey back, instead of the black back of the last-mentioned species. It is a widely 
spread form, ranging from Western Europe across Siberia to the Valley 
of the Yenesei, and wintering in India and in Western and North-eastern Africa. 
On the Continent the White Wagtail is a very common bird, and it probably occurs 
more frequently in England than is generally supposed, and it has been certainly- 
identified as nesting occasionally. It ranges far to the north in Europe, and in 
northern Norway it is certainly one of the most interesting of the birds, and is 
remarkable for its tameness. The ‘ Linel,’ as it is called, is to be seen in the 
vicinity of every ‘ saeter ’ or dairy-farm in the mountains, and each year that I have 
visited Norway, these pretty birds have been my constant companions, building their 
nests on beams in the hay-barns, or in holes in the roofs of the houses. A pair, 
which were more than usually tame, and frequented Mr. Lort Phillips’ house on the 
Alfheim Lake, reared their young in a barn in perfect confidence, and when the nest- 
lings were able to support themselves, the parents brought them down to the lake, 
where they would run about the verandah or settle down on the boats within a few feet 
of us. No sooner were they started in life than the old female laid a second set of 
eggs in the same nest and reared a second brood. The short summer in Norway 
probably accounted for the lack of time necessary for the building of a second nest. 
The latter is inartistically constructed, and resembles that of the Pied Wagtail of 
Britain. The eggs are five or six in number (in the second nest above-mentioned 
there were only four eggs), and are generally lighter than those of M . lugjibris. 
THE GREY This species is intermediate between the ordinary Pied 
WAGTAIL. Wagtails and the Yellow Wagtails which follow. It has a very 
(Motacilln long tail, with bright yellow under tail-coverts, which are very 
mclanope.) conspicuous in both old and young birds. It is light blue-grey 
above with a black throat in summer, this being absent in the winter plumage. 
Young birds can always be told by the fawn-coloured eyebrow, and the tint of the same 
colour which pervades the throat and fore-neck. During the nesting season, the Grey 
Wagtail is decidedly a local bird in Great Britain, but it is universally spread over 
Europe and Northern Asia, though always affecting its own peculiar haunts. It loves 
rocky places, and builds its nest by the side of mountain streams, though in the South 
of England it may be found in other situations, under the shadow of a sluice-gate in 
water-meadows, or in the ivy against an old building, but always close to water. The 
nest is like that of other Wagtails, but is lined with cow’s hair, generally white. The 
eggs vary from five to seven in number, and are rather more uniform in tint than 
those of other Motacillida ■, being sometimes of an olive tint or bluish-white, with 
only a little rufous mottling. 
THE YELLOW This species is often known as Ray’s Wagtail, and is 
WAGTAIL. of a beautiful canary-yellow on the head and underparts, the 
( Motacilla back being olive-yellow. It is a smaller bird than the pre- 
campestris.) ceding species, and has a shorter tail. The female is 
