94 
ALLEN’S NATURALIST’S LIBRARY. 
some specimens which induce us to believe that there is a partial 
hhcl 8 u 10U I f a u Wa - gtails and Pi P its > and that some of the 
.hreni V? the former are really assumed by a 
d t moult. I hat the Iree-Pipit moults in spring we have 
liroved by a pair of birds which we kept through the winter (vide 
infra , p. 105). ' 
Range in Great Britain— A resident, and breeding over the 
greater portion of our islands, but not remaining during the 
winter in the more northern parts. Although nesting in small 
numbers in the Orkneys and some of the Hebrides, it is only a 
spring and autumn migrant in the Shetland Islands. In most 
places a certain amount of migration takes place, and many of 
our Pied Wagtails leave the country, but in many parts of 
England the species remains through the winter. 
Range outside the British Islands— The Pied Wagtail is pecu- 
liarly a species of Western Europe. It breeds in the north- 
west of Prance, and sparingly in Holland, but in Belgium it 
appears to be only an accidental visitor. It likewise visits 
Denmark passes over Heligoland, sometimes in some num- 
bers, and breeds in South-western Norway. It is a winter visitor 
to Southern Prance, Spain, extending to Morocco, and has oc- 
cured as a straggler in Italy. 
Hahits— This very graceful little bird is familiar to most 
people, and in many parts of the country it is called a “Dish 
washer.” Its name of Wagtail is gained from the graceful wav 
in which it balances and sways its tail up and down, with every 
movement. The flight of the species is undulating, and consists 
of a series of dips through the air, each dip being accompanied 
by an utterance of its call-note, which is very well imitated 
by the words chiz-zit. During the nesting season the Wagtail 
is very tame and trustful, nesting often in the neighbour- 
hood of habitations in the most easily detected places At 
Cookham in our young days we often found the nest in the 
large rustic flower-baskets on the lawn, a little depression beinn- 
scraped in the mould and the nest placed therein. It was diffi- 
cult to preserve the birds from prowling cats, but a still more 
relentless enemy was the Cuckoo, which seemed always to select 
a Wagtail’s nest in which to deposit its eggs. The food of the 
Wagtail consists entirely of insects, in the pursuit of which it is 
