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though Mr. Dixon, in his delightful " Rural Bird-life," tells us that it is to help 

 the bird in keeping his balance ; and this, no doubt, is partly true, but not of 

 wafjtails only. All I sliall venture to do shall be to make two suggestions which 

 may perhaps bring us somewhere near a conclusion. 



First, I would point out that the three sjiecies I have been talking of are 

 not all equally persistent waggers (I must use this for want of a better term). 

 The tail of the grey wagtail is, I think, never for a moment still, and it is not 

 moved quickly, but steadily and gently, up and down ; that of the pied wagtail is 

 not quite so regular in its motion ; it is still for a few moments, and then rather 

 rapidly vibrated ; and the yellow wagtail may often be seen to keep his tail quite 

 steady, as he stands upright, or runs among the osier beds. I have constantly 

 been observing these tails this year, and this is the result I have arrived at. Now 

 the yellow wagtail is the least water-loving of the three, the pied wagtail is 

 equally addicted to the streams and the fields, while the grey wagtail is hardly 

 ever seen away from the water-side. Can it be, then, that the motion of the 

 water has some mysterious influence on the motion of the tail ? 



Secondly, I believe that the nervous system of a bird is more highly 

 developed and more delicate than that of any other animal, if we may judge by 

 their constant restlessness, and the extreme vigilance and rapidity of their sight 

 and their motions ; and this, in small birds especially, is apt to show itself in the 

 tail, which is flickered horizontally, as in the redstart, or jerked upwards, as in 

 the wren and moorhen, or moved more gently, as by our wagtails ; for the tail is 

 of course directly connected with the spinal cord and the brain, and is an index 

 or reflector of what is going on, unconsciously perhaps, within that brain. The 

 motion of the tail may in fact be looked on, I think, as a sort of nervous trick, 

 which the bird has developed in the course of ages, different species modifying it 

 according to their habits and surroundings. 



Putting these two suggestions together, I think we may arrive at a 

 tentative conclusion. The peculiar tail motion of the wagtails is a nervous 

 habit, induced by the flow of water : not, I think, simply to keep the tails from 

 getting wet, which I do not suppose they mind, or to balance themselves on stones 

 and pebbles, as they make little forward darts to seize a fly or beetle ; but because 

 the constant and cheering flow and murmur produces in them a feeling of even 

 and gentle contentment, which not only their tails, but all their actions, indicate. 



With this guess— for it is no more than a guess, and may well be too flimsy 

 anil fanciful— I must bid farewell to the fairyland of the wagtails, and thank you 

 for letting me have the pleasure of acting as your guide there to-day. 



The Rev. M. G. Watkins, in thanking Mr. Fowler for his very interesting 

 paper on some varieties of the British Wagtails, remarked :— " Some of the pied 

 and some of the grey wagtails remain in South Herefordshire throughout the year. 

 Doubtless many more of lioth species migrate, the former to the Continent, the 

 latter to other districts, but specimens of both can be found in every month of the 

 year. This is only natural in the case of the grey wagtail, when it is borne in 

 mind how full the country is of rushing streams and haunts which most please the 



