98 Summer Studies of Birds and Books chap. 



handling, more laborious investigation and travel. 

 Into this labyrinth, however, I am not. competent to 

 venture ; I may refer once or twice to two species 

 which are, strictly speaking, Continental, but I shall 

 have enough to say, without travelling further, about 

 the three which habitually breed in our island. 



These three are — first, the Pied Wagtail, commonly 

 known as the Water Wagtail or Dishwasher, the 

 black and white bird which we all know so well ; 

 next, the Yellow Wagtail of the pasture meadows and 

 lazy streams, which comes to us in spring and leaves 

 us in autumn ; thirdly, the so-called Gray Wagtail 

 of the mountain brooks and rivers, which can always 

 be distinguished from the others by its very long tail. 

 All these three resemble each other closely in their 

 habits, as well as in their build. They all love the 

 neighbourhood of water; they all have the same 

 peculiar flight — a graceful flight, consisting of succes- 

 sive upward and downward curves, which enables us 

 to detect them even at a long distance. They all 

 have the same quality of voice — a short and shrill 

 musical whistle, which cannot be confused with the 

 note of any other bird, unless it be indeed with that 

 of their nearest relations the Pipits. They all move 

 their tails gently up and down, build their nests on or 

 close to the ground, and lay eggs of which the ground- 

 colour is nearly always a pale bluish white, spotted 

 more or less with brown or gray. They all walk, or 



