panionship it greets with a shrill though gentle twitter, now springing
into the air to capture a fly, now threading its way among a herd
of cattle, or a flock of sheep or domestic birds, still almost heedlessly
awaiting your near approach. IT disturbed, it springs up with a sharp
but delicate note of alarm, and alter a low aerial bounds frequently
alights again, but sometimes goes right away.
The parent bird is extremely solicitous for the safety of her young,
and will almost Buffer herself to be taken off the nest sooner than
forsake them. If she does fly away, it is only to a short distance,
and immediately the danger has- past she is hack to her post. The
young continue with their parents during the summer and autumn,
the difference in their respective plumage pointing each out at a
glance.
The flight of this bird is light and undulated, but unsteady. It
rises and falls alternately, renewing the motion of its wings at the
pause of each descent. 'It runs with celerity, and is in continual motion
in pursuit of the insects that fly near the surface, which it also catches
by short turns of flight just above the ground, with singular dexterity.'
It does not often, however, remain long on the wing.
Its food is chiefly composed of insects both of laud and water, and
their larva, and worms, minute fresh-water shells, and small grain and
seed-, and these, as Mr. Macgillivray well describes, are sought in
various diverse localities. One kept in confinement used to catch minnows
in the most dexterous manner from a fountain in the middle of
an aviary. Actively and dexterously the bird steps among rocks and
stones, and then pitching on the top of one, instantly vibrates its tail,
as if poising itself. Again, it makes a sally in the air, flutters about
a little, seizes an insect or two, then glides over the ground, swerving
to either side, and resumes its attitude of momentary pause. Now it
essays an excursion over the water, one while darting forwards in a
straight line, then hovering in the same spot, to seize some prey, and
then, as if fatigued witli the unwonted effort, it makes a sudden detour,
and betakes itself to some offering place of rest. At times it may be
seen running along the ridge of the top of a house, and every now
and then capturing a fly. It has been asserted, as stated above, that
it also feeds on minnows, the small fry of fish, and on minute shell-fish.
The note is a sharp cheep, which it repeats frequently when alarmed,
flying about m a wavering manner, as also when running on the ground,
or as a prelude to the act of seizing its prey. It sometimes aspires to
a pleasant modulation, which may almost be dignified with the name
of a song. This often from the roof of a house, or the top of a wall.
The nest is commenced in the beginning or middle of April, according
to the season. It is placed in situations of very opposite kinds, though
never at any very great height, in a hole of a stone wall, the side of
a bridge, in a hollow of a tree, on a heap of stones, the bank of a
streamlet or river, the side of a stack of hay, peat, or wood, a stony
or grassy bank, the stump of a tree, a mud wall, a quarry, or on the
grass, sometimes also in a low shrub or bush. One in the garden of
Nunburnholme liectory was built in a corner of the roof of the
summerhouse, in the midst of encircling branches of roses—a thorough
nook, altogether a most snug and picturesque situation. It is almost
always thus supported against something, a ledge of rock, bank, building,
or wall. Another has been known built in an old flower pot, and again
another in a rat-trap. Meyer has known one in the middle of a
turnip field. It is about five inches wide externally, by about three
and a half internally, and is composed of stems of grass, leaves, small
roots, twigs, and moss, lined with wool, hair, thistle down, the finer
grasses, or feathers, or any other such soft substances, all somewhat
rudely, or rather loosely put together. The same situation is resorted
to, year after year, for a long time, the nest being placed either in,
or very near to the same spot. Two broods are reared in the year.
Mr. Weir sent Mr. Macgillivray an account of a pair of these birds
which built their nest in an old wall, within a few yards of four
men, who, during the most part of the day, were working at a quarry,
where they were occasionally blasting the limestone with gunpowder.
There the female laid and hatched four eggs. She and the male
became so familiar with the workmen that they flew in and out
without shewing the least signs of fear; hut if he himself approached,
so quickly did they recognise a stranger, that they immediately flew
off, and would not return until he had removed at least five or six
hundred yards from their abode. Also in May, 1837, another pahbuilt
their nest under the platform at the top of a coal-pit, which was
jarred against every time that the coals were drawn up. They
became quite familiar with the colliers and other persons connected
with the works, flying in and out only a few feet off them, without
shewing the least symptoms of fear. The nest was placed within a
few inches of where one of the men used to stand. Mr. Jesse mentions
another pair which built their nest in a workshop occupied by
braziers, and, though the noise was loud and incessant, there they
securely hatched their young.
The eggs, four, five, or six in number, and of an elongated oval
form, arc light grey, or greyish or bluish white, sometimes tinged
with yellowish or greenish, spotted all over with grey and brown.
They vary, however, very considerably both in size and colour, some
VOL. n. o.