A Flock of Wagtails One of the curiosities of natural
history observed in recent years was the discovery of a flock of wagtails roosting together in the heart of Dublin. The following account of a little congregation of these birds would suggest that much still remains to be learnt about their winter habits. Last week, on the eve of the great storm, there appeared on a Sussex lawn, some ten miles from the sea, a group of fourteen wagtails, and,• after feeding, half of them stood still as stones in a perfectly regular formation, before flying off to roost together—not like other observed flocks in the grass—hut in a chestnut tree. The suggestion is that this unusual number arriving suddenly in a sheltered inland place was due to premonition of the storm that fell the next day with unwonted fury on the south coast. I have long thought (with Lord Lilford) that the wag- tail is one of the most intelligent of birds.
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