206 BRITISH BIRDS. 
but inaccessible and frequently concealed by dense foliage. I explored 
its course for some distance up into the pine-region and down almost into 
the valley, the region of the vine, and could almost fancy myself to be 
scrambling along one of the wilder branches of the Derwent. I found my 
old friend the Dipper breeding exactly as if he were in Derbyshire, and 
keeping him company was my special favourite the Grey Wagtail. The 
nests of the latter were in similar situations to those I have described, but 
the materials slightly varied. Moss and soft grass took the place of roots, 
and the lining of hair was very thick, as if to protect the young birds from 
the night air, which is much colder in the Parnassus than in Derbyshire. 
Of one nest I noted down at the time that it was profusely lined with black 
goat’s hair, but that the bird followed the Derbyshire fashion of a final 
lining of white hair. I obtained several nests of fresh-laid eggs in the 
middle and end of May; but these appeared to be second broods, as I shot 
several young birds of the year. Dr. Kriper told me that the migrations 
of the Grey Wagtail in Greece are similar to those of our English birds. 
In summer it frequents the mountain-gorges, and in winter is found on 
the banks of the streams in the valleys. 
The eggs of the Grey Wagtail are five or six in number, generally five, 
and may be divided into two distinct types—one in which the ground- 
colour is pale French grey mottled with light brown, and the other of 
a much warmer tint, more nearly approaching cream-colour, mottled and 
spotted with a much richer brown. On many specimens there are one or 
two rich dark brown, almost black, streaks on the large end. The eggs 
vary in length from ‘79 to °65 inch, and in breadth from ‘59 to ‘54 inch. 
It is extremely difficult to distinguish the eggs of this bird from those of 
the Yellow Wagtail or the Blue-headed Wagtail; but those of the Grey 
Wagtail are, on an average, slightly smaller. The Grey Wagtail rears 
two broods in the year, the second, according to Macgillivray, being 
abroad in July. The male relieves the female in the duties of incubation. 
The song of the Grey Wagtail, like that of its congeners, is not very 
often heard, but it resembles very much the twittering of a Swallow. Its 
food, which is sought for both in the air and on the pebbly shores of its 
favourite waters, consists principally of insects, small beetles, and fresh- 
water mollusca. In autumn the young birds and their parents form little 
family-parties, which often keep together far into the winter. At this 
season the bird often repairs to the neighbourhood of the coast, following 
the river from its mountain-sources to its junction with the sea. The Grey 
Wagtail is perhaps more often seen in trees than any other species of 
British Wagtail; it seems to prefer to alight in them, and, in spring 
especially, its monotonous call-note is heard incessantly from the branches. 
The adult male Grey Wagtail, in full breeding-plumage, has the general 
colour of the upper parts slate-grey, darkest on the head, and shading into 
