. British birds. Birds. nOTES STATUS OF THE YELLOW WAGTAIL IN WESTM'ORLAND. Macpherson in his Fauna of Lakeland (p. 112) gives the impression that the Yellow Wagtail {Motacilla flava rayi) is distinctly uncommon in the Lake District. He writes : " Ray's Wagtail is a decidedly scarce summer visitant to Lakeland A few pairs breed sporadically in Cumber- land . . but it never occurs in any numbers, not even on ; The fact is that the Yellow Wagtail is far from being a scarce bird in Westmorland, where it is probably more numer- ous in the nesting season than the moie typical Gr
. British birds. Birds. nOTES STATUS OF THE YELLOW WAGTAIL IN WESTM'ORLAND. Macpherson in his Fauna of Lakeland (p. 112) gives the impression that the Yellow Wagtail {Motacilla flava rayi) is distinctly uncommon in the Lake District. He writes : " Ray's Wagtail is a decidedly scarce summer visitant to Lakeland A few pairs breed sporadically in Cumber- land . . but it never occurs in any numbers, not even on ; The fact is that the Yellow Wagtail is far from being a scarce bird in Westmorland, where it is probably more numer- ous in the nesting season than the moie typical Grey Wagtail. However, it must be sought for in certain places only, but in these chosen haunts it will be found fairly frequently. The type of locality favoured by this bird is almost invariably delta-land where the streams enter the lakes, flat marshy fields which are subject to constant flooding during the winter months. On some of these rough swampy fields up to as many as six pairs breed every year, and such land is to be found on almost every lake. A " lake-head " is practically certain to be occupied by one or more pairs while round such a lake as Windermere there are many suitable sites where the birds are present every year. The average date of arrival in the spring is about 24th April and the birds commence to construct their nests almost immediately after arriving, though the eggs are net usually laid till about the middle of May. As a rule one brood only is raised, but in 1918 one pair that I had under observation certainly had a second nest. The young from the first nest were seen on the wing about the end of June, while on July 7th I watched the old bird busily engaged in building a second nest, which was being lined with white cow's hair. A second nest, however, is unusual. While the birds are only to be found on the low-lying swampy ground thiough the summer, it is very noticeable that from about the middle of August to the middle of September they are m
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