What friendly little chaps those wagtails are," he said, "and see how tame and fearless this one is.
But she did not say anything, for it was quite clear in her little mind that black fellows, Kangaroos, and willy wagtails had a very poor opinion of white people.
Dippers, wagtails and the white-capped redstart were the commonest birds along the river-banks.
Wagtails and white-crested redstarts dodged about from rock to rock in the rushing stream, and the clear note of the shrike could usually be heard above the noise of the waters.
The wagtails appear to be the first of the migrant birds to return, long before the hail of April rattles against the windows and leaps up in the short grass.
Far back in the snow-time a pair ofwagtails used to come several times a day close to the windows, their black markings showing up singularly well against the snow on the ground.
He was told not to climb on to the stones in the current of the stream, but as he was bent on catching the vain, provoking wagtails who strutted about on them, the prohibition was unendurable.
There were two wagtails perching on the stones in the river, and swinging their long tails; and the light flickered through the trees on to the water foaming round the stones or slipping in brown cool sheets between them.
There they lay quite quiet and happy, and were for some time so silent that the wagtails ventured up quite close to them without any sign of fear.
But the Professor growled at me when I asked him why wagtails wag their tails, and said there would have been some use in asking how they do it.
I noticed that other birds who are at home here, wagtails especially, seemed to look upon it as an interloper and resented its intrusion.
Pied wagtails never entirely desert us, though, of course, there are many more, and they are much more in evidence, in summer than in winter.
Swallows and wagtails apparently grudge one another (and flycatchers) a share in their insect sporting rights, if their mutual spitefulness has any meaning.
When the swallows are flying low the wagtailswill deliberately fly at them and even for a little way after them.
Yellow wagtails are not so often seen in the garden, though they are plentiful enough in the neighbourhood.
The White Wagtails entirely disappeared about this date.
The hens were pecking round it, some chickens were balanced on the drinking trough, wagtails flew away in among trucks, from the water.
On my return, in the spring of 1907, to this place I found a pair of wheatears in possession; they had fought the wagtails and driven them away and made their nest in the same place.
A pair of pied wagtails were constantly seen at a stone quarry near a village I stayed at, and as they appeared very tame I spoke to the quarrymen about them.
It also occurred to me at the time that, alone on a desert island, I should be better off with ravens than wagtails for companions; and this for an excellent reason.
It is common to see wagtails and other species attending cattle in the pastures, and keeping close to their noses, on the look-out for the small insects driven from hiding in the grass.
Indeed, he goes so far as to declare that on a desert island, without a human creature to share its solitude with him, he would be happy enough if only wagtails were there to keep him company.
Along the shelving sandy shore the wagtails run, both the pied and the yellow, but few birds come here to wash; for that purpose they prefer a running stream if it be accessible.
There were two or more magpies among the sheep every day: magpies, starlings, rooks, crows, and wagtails follow sheep about.
If I pass them close, or any man, like sharp, slim wagtails they flash a little aside pretending to avoid us; yet all the time calculating.
I look at them as they dart and flash before the shops, like wagtails on the edge of a pool.
When a band of wagtails has compelled a bird of prey to retreat, they make the air resound with their triumphant cries, and after that they separate.
But even the little white wagtails (Motacilla alba), whom we well know in our gardens and whose whole length hardly attains eight inches, compel the sparrow-hawk to abandon its hunt.
Field wagtail, any one of several species of wagtails of the genus Budytes having the tail shorter, the legs longer, and the hind claw longer and straighter, than do the water wagtails.
Among the old buildings tits and wagtails and robins hide their nests in crannies of the crumbling masonry.
Some of the wagtails stay with us all the year round, but most move southward as winter approaches, and when the weather becomes severe, cross the Channel to seek a warmer climate.
For example, the swallow tribe leave Europe entirely; the wagtails have their winter homes among the oases of the desert and on the banks of the Nile, whilst a few tarry in southern Europe, and with their brethren in spring push northward.
The yellow wagtails of Europe have been so frequently confounded and misnamed, that until the student has carefully examined specimens of each he will be almost sure to become confused.
At least two species of Wagtails are common birds upon the fields and pastures of the northern shires.
Both Pied and Gray Wagtails are familiar objects on the towing-path; whilst among the vegetation near the water the Sedge Warbler has its summer home.
There is also a considerable migrational movement going on among Pied Wagtails, and Yellow Wagtails in some numbers appear upon the fallows.
None of our British Wagtails are singers of much merit, and all confine their melody to fitful and short snatches of rambling song, almost invariably uttered as the bird hovers and flutters in the air.
Both in spring and autumnWagtails gather into flocks and migrate thus together.
Yellow Wagtails--are not very uncommon, but of late, for some reason or other, Wagtails of all sorts have become rare.
I love you as the dragon-flies do, as the wagtails do, as the water voles do; I am you and you are me.
The Wagtails are intimately allied to the Pipits, and resemble them in many of their habits, differing chiefly in the lengthened tail and shorter claws.
The above list will hopefully give you a few useful examples demonstrating the appropriate usage of "wagtails" in a variety of sentences. We hope that you will now be able to make sentences using this word.
