THE GRAY WAGTAIL 



(MotaciUa sulphurea) 



IN summer almost every mountain trout-stream is the haunt 

 of the charming little Gray Wagtail, a bird remarkable for 

 the quiet beauty of its dress and the singular gracefulness of 

 its form. It loves the streams in their wildest moods, far up 

 the hillsides where the Dippers build their nests amongst the 

 big boulders of rock, and where the banks are fringed with 

 mountain ash and alder trees. Less frequently you may 

 meet with it on slower running reaches of the stream, or on 

 the banks of brooks near to mill-dams, and about weirs and 

 sluices. It is a much more wary bird than the Pied or 

 Yellow Wagtails, but cannot be called very shy, provided due 

 caution is exercised. It is generally first observed as it rises 

 from the side of the water, or from a rock or stone in the 

 middle of the stream. Like all the other Wagtails, its flight 

 is drooping and rarely long sustained. It seldom goes far when 

 flushed, perching on another rock or up in the branches of 

 the trees a little wav ahead, where, with its long tail beating 



