206 BRITISH BIRDS. 



but inaccessible and frequently concealed by dense foliage. I explored 

 its course for some distance up into the pine-region and down almost into 

 tbe valley, the region of the vine, and could almost fancy myself to be 

 scrambling along one of the wilder branches of the Derwent. I found my 

 old friend the Dipper breeding exactly as if he were in Derbyshire, and 

 keeping him company was my special favourite the Grey Wagtail. The 

 nests of the latter were in similar situations to those I have described, but 

 the materials slightly varied. Moss and soft grass took the place of roots, 

 and the lining of hair was very thick, as if to protect the young birds from 

 the night air, which is much colder in the Parnassus than in Derbyshire. 

 Of one nest I noted down at the time that it was profusely lined with black 

 goat's hair, but that the bird followed the Derbyshire fashion of a final 

 lining of white hair. I obtained several nests of fresh-laid eggs in the 

 middle and end of May ; but these appeared to be second broods, as I shot 

 several young birds of the year. Dr. Kriiper told me that the migrations 

 of the Grey Wagtail in Greece are similar to those of our English birds. 

 In summer it frequents the mountain-gorges, and in winter is found on 

 the banks of the streams in the valleys. 



The eggs of the Grey Wagtail are five or six in number, generally five, 

 and may be divided into two distinct types — one in which the ground- 

 colour is pale French grey mottled with light brown, and the other of 

 a much warmer tint, more nearly approaching cream-colour, mottled and 

 spotted with a much richer brown. On many specimens there are one or 

 two rich dark brown, almost black, streaks on the large end. The eggs 

 vary in length from -79 to '65 inch, and in breadth from '59 to '54 inch. 

 It is extremely difiBcult to distinguish the eggs of this bird from those of 

 the Yellow Wagtail or the Blue-headed Wagtail ; but those of the Grey 

 Wagtail are, on an average, sbghtly smaller. The Grey Wagtail rears 

 two broods in the year, the second, according to Macgillivray, being 

 abroad in July. The male reheves the female in the duties of incubation. 



The song of the Grey Wagtail, like that of its congeners, is not very 

 often heard, but it resembles very much the twittering of a Swallow. Its 

 food, which is sought for both in the air and on the pebbly shores of its 

 favourite waters, consists principally of insects, small beetles, and fresh- 

 water mollusca. In autumn the young birds and their parents form little 

 family-parties, which often keep together far iato the winter. At this 

 season the bird often repairs to the neighbourhood of the coast, following 

 the river from its mountain-sources to its junction with the sea. The Grey 

 Wagtail is perhaps more often seen in trees than any other species of 

 British Wagtail; it seems to prefer to alight in them, and, in spring 

 especially, its monotonous call-note is heard incessantly from the branches. 



The adult male Grey Wagtail, in full breeding-plumage, has the general 

 colour of the upper parts slate-grey, darkest on the head, and shading into 



