CHAP. V A Chapter on Wagtails 97 



would have Warblers, Redstarts, Flycatchers, or, better 

 still. Wagtails. 



It is impossible ever to weary of Wagtails. We 

 are never altogether without them, yet whenever they 

 present themselves to us we are constrained to give 

 them our attention. Some birds you can glance at as 

 you walk and talk, but no sooner does a Wagtail 

 alight on the path in front of you than he compels 

 you to pause and look at him carefully. There are, 

 indeed, scientific reasons why Wagtails should always 

 be noticed ; but apart from these there is a never- 

 failing pleasure in contemplating their symmetry of 

 form, their beauty of colouring, their graceful flight, 

 their unobtrusive confidence, and that constant un- 

 resting activity of theirs — an activity which some 

 mysterious grace of mental build never suffers to 

 degenerate into fidgetiness. 



There are Wagtails in most parts of the world, and 

 from Britain eastwards to Japan they are abundant, 

 puzzling the ornithologist with their endless varieties 

 of plumage, and utterly declining to be neatly and 

 finally classified. The whole group, it is true, is 

 perfectly well defined, if not by structure, at least by 

 outward appearance, habit, and motion ; but the 

 species within the group run into each other in a way 

 which seems to be as baffling as it is instructive. N"o 

 family of birds has more to tell us of the nature and 

 growth of species ; but none needs more careful 



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