The Gray Wagtail. 17 



haunts it throughout the October term. 1 All the 

 spring and early summer the Gray Wagtail was 

 among the noisy becks and burns of the north, 

 bringing up his young under some spray-splashed 

 stone, or the moist arch of a bridge ; in July he 

 comes southwards, and from that time till Decem- 

 ber or January is constantly to be seen along 

 Cherwell and Isis. He is content with sluggish 

 water if he can find none that is rapid ; but the 

 sound of the falling water is as surely grateful to 

 his ear as the tiny crustaceans he finds in it are 

 to his palate. For some time last autumn (1884) 

 I saw him nearly every day, either on the stone- 

 work of the weir, or walking into its gentle water- 

 slope, or running lightly over the islands of dead 

 leaves in other parts of the Cherwell ; sometimes 

 one pair would be playing among the barges on 

 the Isis, and another at Clasper's boat-house 

 seemed quite unconcerned at the crowd of men 

 and boats. It is always a pleasure to watch 

 them ; and though all Wagtails have their charm 



1 In 1885 Gray Wagtails were much less common in the 

 south than in 1884; at the present time (Oct. 1886) they are 

 again in their favourite places (see Frontispiece). 



C 



