26 Among the Birds in Northern Shires. 



most charming of its kind, deftly poised on a rock 

 in mid-stream vigorously beating its long tail, look- 

 ing like a single feather until it was opened as the 

 startled bird took flight; the two latter species flying 

 alarmed away arrow -like, following the winding 

 waters, the one as a particoloured ball, the other 

 as a blue undefined streak of refulgent light. So 

 likewise has the Gray Wagtail oft been our sole 

 bird companion on many a Highland water, both on 

 the mainland and in Skye. We never tire of watch- 

 ing its sylph-like actions, the dainty way it poises on 

 the stones or flits along before us stage after stage 

 in undulating flight uttering its cheery chiz zit as it 

 goes, or of admiring the exquisite blending of its 

 showy yet delicately coloured plumage. We have 

 often made his acquaintance upon more southern 

 waters, far away in the remote south-west of Eng- 

 land, but somehow he never there evokes the same 

 feelings with which we greet him in northern haunts. 

 The Gray Wagtail visits these upland streams for 

 the purpose of rearing its young. Not every wan- 

 derer by the water-side is fortunate enough to get a 

 peep at this bird's domestic arrangements. It has, 

 fortunately perhaps, a happy way of concealing its 

 nest under some large stone or overhanging rock, or 

 in a quiet nook, not necessarily in a secluded spot, 

 but often close by the wayside, where the very 

 audacity of the selection proves a source of safety. 



