BIRD-LIFE BY RIVER AND STREAM. 77 



just above the water or the broad expanse of mud, 

 or sitting motionless on some overhanging branch 

 or water-surrounded post. The woods and dense 

 vegetation which clothe the banks of the river 

 literally down to the water's edge are chosen 

 haunts of bird-life, but these are best dealt with 

 elsewhere. Above tidal limits, the river, as we 

 previously remarked, soon dwindles down to a 

 mere stream. Here the Gulls are replaced by such 

 more homely species as the dainty Grey Wagtail 

 and the Dipper two birds that are familiar enough 

 to the trout-fisher, and attend him along each length 

 of water with entrancing pertinacity. The Grey 

 Wagtail is one of our special favourites, and one 

 with which we have been familiar from boyhood. 

 It is one of the most striking ornaments of those 

 swift-flowing rivers and streams in the northern 

 counties where our first knowledge of bird-life was 

 acquired, and the sight of it amongst tamer sur- 

 roundings in Devonshire never fails to create a 

 train of reminiscences in which the dainty bird has 

 taken a prominent place. The Grey Wagtail, 

 however, is by no means so common in Devon as 

 it is in Derbyshire and Yorkshire, for instance ; 

 and our experience of it in the south is that the 



