every movement as they run or flit from one spot to another, enjoying alike the warmth of the sun and the 
myriads of insects whicli it calls into being. In antumn, again, in little family groups, the young, in their 
more sombre tints resembling the females, are learning for themselves the art of fly-catching, and, till 
instinct warns them of the coming winter, each day finds them busily employed amongst the cattle in our 
fields and pastures. Though not so constantly seen in the vicinity of water as some other species, this 
Wagtail frequents the margins of rivers and streams, and the marshy grounds adjacent, as well as open downs 
and furzy commons, with arable land and sheep-walks.” — Birds of Norfolk, vol. i. p. 156. 
To this I may add that, although very generally spread over the central counties of England, there are 
districts in this country in which it is never found — a circumstance which clearly shows that certain j)hysical 
conditions are necessary to its existence ; but to say what those conditions are is beyond my power, as much as it 
is for me to say why the Nightingale is not found in Cornwall or to the northward of Durham, or why the Pied 
Flycatcher passes by the great oak-woods of Kent and Sussex to breed in those of Westmoreland and York- 
shire. Like the Pied Wagtail the Budytes Rayi is always actively engaged in the pursuit of flies and other 
insects ; like that species, too, it affects the immediate precincts of cattle, but sometimes suddenly pitches 
on our lawns and gardens. It is certainly much less aquatic in its habits than either the Grey Wagtail 
{Calohates sulphureci) or the typical Motacillcb (J/. Yarrellii and M. alba). In structure it approaches the 
true Pipits {Antlii), and also resorts to the same kind of situations for which those birds evince a preference. 
It breeds on the ground, among the growing corn, in fields of peas, in a grass-field, on a naked fallow, or by 
the ditch-side. “ The nest,” says Mr. Hewitson, “ is composed of dry grasses, roots, bits of moss or wool, and 
is lined with finer grasses and roots, and a few hairs. Mr. Newton tells me that it varies very much in the 
materials of which it is composed : ‘ One of two nests taken on the same day, and within a few yards of 
each other, was composed of green moss and grass, lined with rabbit’s down, the other entirely of grass, lined 
with fine roots.’ The eggs are usually four or five in number, occasionally six; they are generally somewhat 
less than those of the Grey Wagtail, which they sometimes resemble, but they are mostly more like those 
of the Grey-headed Wagtail ; and it would be very difficidt to identify them if once mixed with the eggs of 
the Sedge-Warbler, which they closely resemble in colour, as well as in being usually marked with a black 
waved line across the larger end.” 
The sexes differ materially in colour, the face, throat, and under surface of the female being merely washed 
with a lighter colour than that which is so conspicuous in the male. The young are spotted and speckled 
on the wings and a portion of the upper surface, in which state they resemble young Pipits. 
The Plate represents a male and a female, of the size of life. 
