moulted specimen, in full plumage, while walking round one of the hays of Poole Harbour on the 31st of 
March 1,861. It was exceedingly tame, evinced little or no fear, and allowed me to approach within ten feet 
of it. It appeared to have just arrived from the Continent, and was busily engaged in catching insects. Its 
back was a light silvery grey, and its throat and the back of its head were as black as jet. I have no doubt that, 
at this time of the year, examples frequently occur along all parts of our southern coast; but they must be 
regarded as birds bloum out of their course during their migration, or as individuals that are passing over our 
islands to the distant north. That the M. alba has been frequently seen in other parts of England and Scot- 
land I am well aware ; for we have numerous recorded instances of its occurrence ; hut these countries are 
not its natural home. If any of my readers should wish to see the bird in a state of nature, and yet do not 
care to make a journey to the rugged shores of Norway, or the sunny clime of Italy, they may gratify their 
desire hy visiting France or Holland. There they will meet with it in all situations similar to those frequented 
here by our well-known Pied Wagtail, from which it differs but little, either in habits or economy ; but it 
always apjieared to me to be somewhat tamer in disposition, and a little less sprightly in its actions. It will 
scarcely be necessary for me to describe these minutely ; for they have been fully detailed in my account of 
M, Yarrelli. Insects and their larvee, small worms, and minute shelled mollusks constitute its principal food ; 
and watercourses, gardens, and homesteads are the places of its resort. Every village on the Continent 
of Europe has the accompaniment of one, two, or more pairs during summer; and with every flock of sheep, 
or herd of cattle, the bird may also be seen. In spring it arrives singly, or in pairs ; in autumn it departs 
southward in flocks, or flights of tens or even hundreds, for a more genial climate, where insect life is abun- 
dant, and where they remain until the return of spring, when they instinctively retrace their steps to the old 
quarters where they have bred, and the young to the neighbourhood of the sites in which they have been 
reared. 
The nest is constructed of materials similar to those used by the M. Yarrelli ; it is deposited sometimes 
on the ground in meadows, or on a ditch-bank, in the hole of a wall, in the crevices of rocks, the holes of trees, 
and is frequently fixed in the side of a wood-stack, but always near water. A nest sent to Mr. Hewitson, 
which was said to be of this species, and had been taken from a reed-stack on the fen near Whittlesea Mere, 
was ill-constructed, and composed of a large quantity of A-ery coarse grass and roots, lined with wool and 
hair mixed together ; Avhile a nest from Holland was much more symmetrical, was outAvardly composed of 
the stalks of plants, dry grasses, bits of moss, and a large quantity of fine roots, followed iiiAvardly by wool, 
and then thickly lined with hair ; the central cavity large. 
The eggs are four or five in number, of a greyish white, thickly freckled with minute spots and streaks of 
grey or brown. Mr. Yarrell describes them as nine lines in length, and seven in breadth ; but Mr. Hewitson 
says that the eggs of both M. Yarrelli and M. alba differ much in size, some being one-third less than others. 
The Plate represents both sexes in the summer plumage, and of the natural size. The pretty British plant 
accompanying them, which was kindly sent to me by the Rev. H. Harper Crewe, is the Pyrola minor, and the 
Butterfly is the Common Peacock (^Vanessa /o). 
