238 Northern Observations of Inland Birds 



more and more agitated, till, at length, driven far from 

 its home and young, it rises in desperation and flies 

 straight back to the place at which originally disturbed. 

 Owing to its love for these places, where the only grass 

 which rises above the common level is the seed grass, 

 the yellow wagtail is commonly known as the Seed Lady, 

 a becoming and appropriate appellation for so dainty a 

 creature, save that it is apt to mislead as regards the food 

 of the bird. 



As the season advances and insects become less plentiful 

 about its favourite haunts, as is particularly the case if 

 the summer be a dry one, the yellow wagtail leaves the 

 high country and frequents the haunts of the grey, but 

 this is not because it loves the water, but because insects 

 are more plentiful there than elsewhere. It is by far 

 the wildest of the three, and very rarely becomes attached 

 to the haunts of man. At the same time I have often 

 watched them in a village garden hawking at twilight 

 for insects about the apple trees — strangers no doubt, 

 attracted there by the passing abundance of insect life. 



So, of our three wagtails, the pied, the grey, and the 

 yellow, the pied is most essentially the bird of our gardens, 

 the grey, the angler's friend, the bird of our streams, 

 and the yellow a passing sprite known to few save those 

 who love the gorse hills in the spring. Of the three graces, 

 the grey is perhaps the most graceful. It is the most 

 vividly coloured, the most elegant, and the most vivacious 

 in its manners. But those who love old English gardens 

 must regard the pied as they regard no other bird, for it 

 holds a place no other can. 



While dealing with the bright birds of our streams 

 and meadows, mention must be made of the brightest 

 of them all, the most brilliantly plumaged of British wild 

 birds, the kingfisher. It seems to be an inexorable law 

 of the bird world that what pleases the eye disappoints 



