1 8 Oxford: Autumn and Winter. 



for me, I give this one the first place, for its 

 matchless delicacy of form, and the gentle grace 

 of all its actions. 



The Gray Wagtail is misnamed, both in English 

 and Latin ; as we might infer from the fact that 

 in the one case it is named from the colour of its 

 back, and in the other from that of its belly. 1 It 

 should be surely called the Long-tailed Wagtail, 

 for its tail is nearly an inch longer than that of 

 any other species ; or the Brook- Wagtail, because 

 it so rarely leaves the bed of the stream it haunts. 

 All other Wagtails may be seen in meadows, 

 ploughed fields, and uplands ; but though I have 

 repeatedly seen this one within the last year in 

 England, Wales, Ireland, and Switzerland, I never 

 but once saw it away from the water, and then it 

 was for the moment upon a high road in Dorset- 

 shire, and within a few yards of a brook and pool. 

 Those who wish to identify it must remember its 

 long tail and its love of water, and must also look 

 out for the beautiful sulphur yellow of its under 

 parts ; in the spring both male and female have 



1 The scientific name is Motacilla sulphurea (in Dresser's 

 List. M. melanope). 



