THE WAGTAILS AND THE PIPITS. 281

skylarks. She took a strong liking to these new-comers,
which were scarcely younger than herself; she tended them
night and day, cherished them beneath her wings, and fed
them with her bill. Nothing could interrupt her tender offices.
If the young ones were tom from her, she flew to them as
soon as she was liberated, and would not think of effecting
her own escape, which she might have done a hundred times.
Her affection grew upon her; she neglected food and drink;
she now required the same support as her adopted offspring,
and expired at last consumed with maternal anxiety. None
of the young ones survived her. They died one after another;
so essential were her cares, which were equally tender and
judicious.”

The terk | The Lark when pursued by the Hawk has
andthe been known to seek refuge under the protection
Hawk. of man, as the following quoted by Captain Brown

from Bell’s “ Weekly Messenger” will show. “On Wednesday,
the 6th of October, 1805, as a gentleman was sitting on the
rocks at the end of Collercot’s sands, near Tynemouth, North-
_ umberland, dressing himself after bathing, he perceived a
hawk in the air, in close pursuit of, and nearly within reach
of a lark. To save the little fugitive, he shouted and clapped
his hands, when immediately the lark descended, and alighted
on his knee, nor did it offer to leave him, when taken into
the hand, but seemed confident of that protection, which it
found. The hawk sailed about for some time. The gentleman,
after taking the lark nearly to Tynemouth, restored it to its
former liberty.”
The Wagtails The Wagtails, of which family the Pied Wag-
and Pipits. tail is the most familiar, derives its name from
its habit of wagging its tail. As Mr. Wood says, “it settles
on the ground and wags its tail; it rums a few paces and
wags its tail again; pecks an insect, and again its tail vibrates.”
It frequents sandbanks and the margins of rivers where it
finds its food. It is found in England throughout the year,