304 Spring Nooks in Winter 



some thread-like brook of the uplands as the 

 equinox draws on. The grey wagtail's journey 

 will probably be the longest of all ; except in rare 

 instances, it does not nest in its winter haunts in 

 the south and east, but returns in earliest spring 

 to the hill-streams of the north and west. Many 

 pied wagtails are also wanderers. One winter 

 refuge which they haunt almost as regularly as a 

 perennial spring is a little sun- filled cove where a 

 cliff-stream falls into the sea. The fascination of 

 such a place to man is as great as its material attrac- 

 tion to the birds. There is a delight in the conflict 

 of the sweet water and the salt in the debatable 

 pool, and in the contrast of the bright trout and 

 fringe of land-plants above, with the starfish and 

 seaweeds washing in the tide beneath. Birds find 

 much winter food in the wave-borne wreckage 

 collecting in such a sea-pool, and in the weeds 

 brought down by the stream. The wren steals 

 down from the furze-brake on the cliff-side to pick 

 in the fresh- water drift ; and meadow pipits in 

 twos and threes search methodically along the 

 high- water mark. But neither of these birds finds 

 an attraction in the stream for its own sake ; it is 

 an interruption of their interest, not its centre. 

 Then, with their sharp, double note, a pair of pied 

 wagtails come flitting over the rocks in the winter 

 sunshine. They alight on the boulders in mid- 

 stream, flirt their tails, look up to the splashing 

 waterfall with an air of possession, and the place 

 becomes inhabited and complete. 



