56 BIRD LIFE IN WILD WALES 



easily convince himself on this point by procuring an 

 old nest. Another very favourite site is the masonry 

 of a bridge which spans the stream, and here we 

 must look for it in the hollow formed by the dis- 

 lodgment of a stone or in some crevice. Last year 

 (1902) we found a nest some distance up a hole in the 

 stonework of a bridge, and here there was no neces- 

 sity whatever for the usual domed nest ; but so 

 strong was the natural instinct to build the regular 

 type that even the top of the cavity was covered 

 with moss. We have seen it, too, on a broad ledge 

 of rock overhanging the stream. Large as these 

 nests usually are, so well does the moss used har- 

 monise with surrounding objects that it is often 

 passed, save by the experts. The interior of the 

 nest is made of dried grass lined profusely with dead 

 leaves, and we have noticed that those of the birch 

 are chiefly called into requisition. In this strange 

 bed repose the half-dozen white and spotless eggs, 

 though four often constitutes a full clutch. Brood 

 after brood is reared in the same nest, but a fresh 

 lining is inserted for each new clutch of eggs. Most 

 of the nests in those parts of the Wye with which we 

 are familiar are made by preference up the feeder 

 streams rather than on the main river. 



Another very characteristic bird of these fast- 

 flowing rivers and streams is the charming Grey 

 Wagtail, and few prettier sights are presented to the 

 naturalist than a family party of these birds. Long 

 after the young leave their home the old birds are 

 very solicitous for their welfare, flying backwards and 

 forwards past the intruder with shrill notes of alarm. 



