ditches, where
its shrill note often betrays it to eyes which would otherwise
never see it.

This bird may be easily distinguished from the Spring Wagtail by
its note when flying--yet, notwithstanding the difference is very
apparent to a person who hears them both, it is not so easily
described. In attempting to do so, therefore, I hope I shall be
excused if I don't make the difference so apparent in the
description as it is in reality. The latter part of the note of
the Grey Wagtail when flying is higher in the musical scale than
the former part, and is very staccato, thus: [BAR OF MUSIC]
generally being uttered as the bird makes a spring in the air, [10]
whilst the latter part of the note of the summer-bird is lower in
the scale than the former part, which is more prolonged than in
the note of the Grey Wagtail, and is slurred into the latter part,
something in the following manner: [BAR OF MUSIC] Of course I
don't mean it to be understood that these notes are either of the
same pitch, or that they bear the same relation to each other that
the notes of the bird do, but as a rude attempt at illustrating
what I could not explain in any other way.

A singular habit which I have noticed in several individuals of
this species (_M. sulphurea_) has amused me exceedingly. They were
in the habit of looking at their own images in the windows and
attacking them, uttering their peculiar cry, and pecking and
fluttering against the glass as earnestly as if the object they
saw was a real rival instead of an imaginary one (a friend who
observed it, insisted that, Narcissus-like, it was in an ecstasy
of self-admiration). What is more remarkable, two of these
instances occurred in the autumn, when one would not suppose the
same motives for animosity to exist that would probably actuate
them in the spring.

The first of these instances was when I was a boy, and was
repeated daily for several weeks, both against the windows of my
father's house and those of our neighbour, who, being rather
superstitious, was alarmed about it, and came to consult my mother
on the subject. She said there was a bird which her brother told
her was a barley-bird (_Motacilla flava_), which was continually
flying against her windows, and as birds were not in the habit of
doing so generally, she thought something serious was portended by
it. My mother comforted her as well as she could, and I undertook
to rid her of the annoyance, which I did by setting a h