THE GREY WAGTAIL. 



167 



the most elegant and graceful of British, birds, and in 

 delicacy of colouring is surpassed by few. Its habits 

 are much the same as those of the Pied Wagtail, but it 

 is even lighter and more active in its movements. It is 

 less frequently observed away from water than that species, 

 and though, like it, not altogether a permanent resident in 

 England, it visits us at the opposite season, coming in 

 autumn, and retiring northwards in spring. It does not 



THE GREY WAGTAIL. 



appear, however, to go so far north as Inverness-shire, but 

 is occasionally seen about Edinburgh in winter ; and, on 

 the other hand, it is yearly met with in the southern 

 counties of England during summer, as on the streams 

 which flow from Dartmoor. This partial migration seems 

 to be characteristic of the family, and is difficult to account 

 for. Why out of a certain number of birds of the same 

 species, some should annually travel southwards, to supply 



