I06 THE BIRDS OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



that some grey feathers are mixed with the black, and examina- 

 tion of a series of skins confirms this statement. The amount 

 of grey varies individually from greyish black to blackish grey, 

 females, though showing sooty markings, being greyest. The 

 short-tailed nesthngs are shown on Plate 47. Length, 75 ins. 

 V/ing, 3-4 ins. Tarsus, i in. 



Grey Wagtail. Motadlla boanda Scop. 



In summer the Grey Wagtail (Plate 45) is found throughout 

 Europe, and in winter it ranges to tropical Africa. In Britain 

 it is resident in suitable places, a summer visitor, for numbers 

 leave in autumn, and a bird of passage. 



The Grey is more of a water bird than the Pied, though 

 running water, especially tiu-bulent hill becks and streams, are 

 most favoured ; these it haunts from their first bound over the 

 escarpments on the moors to the wooded gorges and valleys, 

 but seldom frequents the lowlands in spring. Really a little 

 smaller than the Pied it appears bigger on account of its longer 

 tail ; it is a slimmer, more graceful bird, with more deliberate 

 caudal gestures, which reach their highest perfection during 

 nuptial display, when fanned, elevated and depressed to show 

 to advantage the contrast between the whites and blacks. 

 Along the stream margin the bird runs nimbly or walks more 

 sedately with head and neck dipping forward at every step ; in 

 the stream it flickers from stone to stone, careless if the water 

 flows over its feet, and darts upwards to snatch a fly. Like 

 other wagtails it feeds on insects, but in the shallow^s catches 

 the crustaceans, Gavwtartis and Aselhis, or picks from the 

 stones a small Liinnea or the river-limpet Ancylus. It perches 

 freely, and where trees overhang the stream uses the branches 

 as look-out posts from which to sally, flycatching, over the 

 water. When winter approaches it leaves the uplands and is 

 met with by lakes, ponds, slow-flowing rivers or the coast, and 



