Page:Natural History, Birds.djvu/103

90 minnows, and immediately seizing the prize for their own dinner.' "

The nest of this elegant little bird is commonly constructed of root-fibres or slender twigs, lined with hair, fine grass, and a few feathers; it is generally in the vicinity of water, at a low elevation, rarely on the ground, and in whatever situation is almost always strengthened against some firm support, as a ledge of rock, a bank, the trunk of a tree, or a wall. A hole in a wall, a crevice among loose stones, the interstices of a wood-pile or faggot-stack, the thatch of a cart-shed, or a hay-rick,—these all chosen occasionally; and Mr. Jesse has mentioned in his "Gleanings," the nest of a Wagtail built in one of the workshops of a manufactory at Taunton, amidst the incessant din of braziers who occupied the apartment. It was built near the wheel of a lathe which revolved within a foot of it, and here the bird hatched four young ones. She was perfectly familiar with the well-known faces of the workmen, and flew in and out without fear of them; but if a stranger entered, or any other persons belonging to the same factory, but not to what may be called her shop, she quitted her nest instantly, and returned not till they were gone. The male, however, had less confidence, and would not come into the room, but brought the usual supplies of food to a certain spot on the roof, whence it was brought in to the nest by his mate.