This bird, found throughout Europe and the northern parts of Asia, resembles the wagtail in size and air; but its tail being only an inch and ten lines, its total length is only five inches and a half. The beak, seven lines long, is black, as well as the iris and feet; the shanks are an inch high; the forehead white, and a white streak passes above the eyes, crossed by a black line springing from the nostrils, which also tints the cheeks; all the upper parts of the body and the scapulars are of a light ash-grey colour, slightly tinged with a reddish hue. The back of the female is reddish grey, and the under parts of the body darker than in the male; the lesser wing-coverts are edged with rust-red, and the white of the tail is not so clear as in the male, but is of a reddish tint. The young ones, before moulting, are spotted with red on a dark brown ground, on the upper part of the body; on the under speckled with orange and black. After moulting, both males and females retain for another year the colour of the female on the back, that is to say, reddish grey. HABITATION.--When wild this species frequents stony and mountainous places; and, during their migration, they may be seen resting in the fields, on the tops of isolated stakes, and other similar places; rarely on trees or bushes. They take their departure during the first fortnight in September, and return towards the middle of April, when white frosts cease. In the house these birds must be kept in nightingales' cages, or shut up behind a grating, and not suffered to range until accustomed in their prison to their new food; for, unless taken good care of at first, they will soon die. They can rarely be tamed. FOOD.--When wild they feed on flies and other insects, which they catch as they run along. In the house they must be given plenty of meal-worms and ants' eggs as soon as they are taken; for, if not fed profusely, they will die, and what is rather astonishing, of diarrhoea, although they have not eaten any of the common house-food. Afterwards they may be fed on nightingales' food, and occasionally on white bread soaked in boiled milk; yet, with every attention, they can rarely be preserved more than two years. BREEDING.--Their nests, formed of stalks of grass and feathers, are generally placed in the crevices of some stone-quarry, sometimes in holes on the banks of streams or rivers, or in an empty mole-hill, or even on a heap of stones. They lay from five to six eggs, of a greenish white. To rear the young ones, they must be taken when half-fledged, and fed on ants' eggs and white bread soaked in boiled milk. MODE OF TAKING.--Limed twigs must be placed on the stones or stakes where these birds rest, or even on sticks fixed in the ground for the purpose, and they must be driven gently towards the snares.