234 Northern Observations of Inland Birds 



the attractive features of its congener, barring the habit 

 of attaching itself to our gardens, its plumage is more 

 beautiful, its figure even more nymph-like and graceful, 

 its manners more spritely and vivacious than the bird 

 which holds our gaze during our afternoon strawberries 

 and cream. 



Elusive sprite of mountain rivulets ! It is in such 

 poetical terms that ornithologists, from decade to decade, 

 have alluded to this little bird of our mountain streams. 

 Few of them, who have possessed the gift of poetry, 

 have been able to resist the temptation of bursting into 

 verse when it comes to the grey wagtail, so fragrant and 

 happy are the scenes it recalls, when, over the winter 

 log, we have time to contemplate these minor friends 

 of summer. 



The grey wagtail does not catch the eye as does the pied, 

 and this by reason of the fact that its bright colours 

 merge so perfectly into the shades of its natural surround- 

 ings — the yellow stones, the grey waters, the mosses of 

 deeper hue. Thus we may pass it by within a few feet, 

 a trustful and fearless little bird, without noticing it, far 

 less paying attention to its beautiful plumage. Yet the 

 grey wagtail is among the most daintily and tastefully 

 attired of all our wild birds, especially in the early spring 

 of the year, when the light canary yellow, the soft grey 

 and the darker shades of its plumage blend into a wonderful 

 harmony of bright yet unassuming brilliance. The bird 

 itself is exquisitely graceful, and as it flies from stone to 

 stone, uttering the famiHar wagtail call, it sometimes 

 catches the eye in a brilliant flash of yellow, which vanishes 

 instantaneously among the trees and waters. 



The grey wagtail has a clear, sweet song, lively as 

 running waters which as often as not engulf it in their 

 world-old melody. It will sit motionless for long periods 

 in the shallow water of a woodland pool, seemingly wrapped 



