ORDER PASSERES.

The Yellow Wagtail.

Motacilla Flava.- LINN. La Bergeronette de Printems.

Black-and-White Water-Wagtail.

Motacilla Alba. La Lavandière.

THIS sprightly race of birds, so common in all parts of the country, Bewick observes, may be easily distinguished by their brisk and lively movements, and by the great length of their tails, which they jerk up and down continually, deriving their name from this peculiarity in various European countries.

We have three species in England-the two mentioned above, and the grey wagtail, Motacilla Boarula. Of these, the yellow, is the most attractive to the eye, and deservedly ranks as one of the most elegant of our birds. The yellow wagtail is an early spring visitant to our meadows and corn-fields, where it frequently nestles. In the winter, it is said, by Bewick, to haunt the sides of brooks and streams, which do not freeze; yet some other ornithologists speak

of it decidedly as migrating from northern countries at the approach of winter.

The M. Boarula, on the contrary, makes his appearance amongst us at that season, and departs when the other wagtails come to us in the spring. Unlike the Motacilla Provincialis, from which we have just parted, the yellow wagtail does not make his abode in the lonely waste, or unfrequented heath. Guided by the unerring instinct implanted in their breasts by the great Author of Nature, these little birds fly to the cultivated lands best adapted to supply them with food, and follow in the tracks of flocks and herds, where the flies and other insects they seek may be the most abundantly found. It is from their thus frequenting the paths of the shepherd and the herdsman, that the French have given them the name of Bergeronette, adding to it that of Printems, from their early appearance in spring.

The Motacilla Alba or black-and-white waterwagtail, is more universally known, and is indeed more familiar with the human race. It is seen coutinually near our habitations during the spring and summer months, either flying and sporting in the air, or running nimbly along the ground, and leaping up after flies and other insects. Its ebon and ivory plumage, jet black and pure

white, greets our eyes in the field, by the wayside, on the village common, and the borders of ponds and streams. Little distrustful of man, it enters our gardens, running rapidly over the lawn, seeking for food. While yet the dew is on the grass, and the insect race have scarcely roused them from their slumbers, we see the sprightly bird scudding over the green turf in all directions. He flies fearlessly in the path of the labourer, and is not disturbed by the noisy merriment and gay sports of the children, tripping lightly in their neighbourhood while they play, as if he would willingly join in their gambols. Its favourite haunts are the shallow margins of running waters. In France it often approaches the washer-women while engaged in their labours on the banks of the streams, and seems, by the motion of its tail, to imitate their beating of the linen, from whence the French have given it the name of la lavandière. They make their nests on the ground, and lay five or six eggs of a bluish white, spotted with brown. Nothing can exceed their attention to their young, in which the male bird takes his share with the female. They defend them courageously when attacked, and like the lapwing and some other birds, will meet the enemy, fly around him, and seek by every means to mislead