106 BRITISH BIRDS 



, 



The grey wagtail is the prettiest and the least common of tin- 

 three species of Motacilla inhabiting the British Islands. Like 



FIG. 38. GBEY WAGTAIL. ^ natural size. 



the dipper, it frequents mountain streams, but is not restricted to 

 them. In England it is a somewhat rare species, but is more 

 common in Scotland and Ireland. It remains with us throughout 

 the year, but although a permanent resident in most parts of the 

 country, it is certain that it disappears in autumn from many of its 

 breeding-haunts in Scotland and the north of England, and that a 

 large number of these northern birds winter in the southern and 

 western counties. 



The grey wagtail is frequently spoken of as a bird of brilliant 

 plumage. It is not exactly that, but the various colours are so soft 

 and delicate, they harmonise so admirably, and show in the velvet- 

 black of the gorget and pure canary-yellow of the breast so line a 

 contrast, that the effect is most beautiful, and pleases, perhaps, more 

 than the colouring of any other British bird. And this is not all. 

 The charm which the grey wagtail has for those who know it 

 intimately consists in the union of delicate colouring with a delicate 

 form and exquisitely graceful motion. Ornithologists have called 

 it a ' fairv-like bird,' and the terms in which they have sometimes 

 recorded their impressions of it might lead one to imagine that 

 they are speaking, not of a bird, but of some elusive nymph of 

 the mountain rivulets, of whom they had caught a glimpse in their 



