288 
A YEAR WITH THE BIRDS. 
suppose, however, that the birds would be about the river, if only to 
supply their voracious young with food, unless we are to conclude that 
they feed them principally with slugs and such small fry. Here is a 
point which needs investigation.” * * * * 
“ The island which I have mentioned is joined to Mesopotamia by 
another bridge just below the weir ; and here is a second post of obser¬ 
vation, with one feature that is absent at the upper bridge. There 
all is silent, unless a breeze is stirring the trees; here the water 
prattles gently as it slides down the green slope of the weir into the 
deep pool below. This motion of the water makes the weir and this 
part of the Cherwell a favourite spot of a very beautiful little bird 
which haunts it throughout the October Term. All the spring and 
early summer the Grey Wagtail was among the noisy becks and burns 
of the north, bringing up his young under some spray-splaslied stone, 
or the moist arch of a bridge. In July he comes southwards, and from 
that time till December or January is constantly to be seen along 
Cherwell and Isis. He is content with sluggish water, if he can tind 
none that is rapid; but the sound of the falling water is as surely 
grateful to his ear as the tiny crustaceans he finds in it are to his 
palate. For some time last autumn I saw him nearly every day, 
either on the stonework of the weir or walking into its gentle water- 
slope, or running lightly over the islands of dead leaves in other parts 
of the Cherwell; sometimes one pair would be playing among the 
barges on the Isis, and another at Clasper’s boat-house seemed quite 
unconcerned at the crowd of men and boats. * * * * 
“ The Grey Wagtail is misnamed both in English and Latin ; as 
we might infer from the fact that in the one case it is named from the 
colour of its back and in the other from that of its belly. It should 
be surely called the Long-tailed Wagtail, for its tail is nearly an inch 
longer that that of any other species; or the Brook-Wagtail, because 
it so rarely leaves the bed of the stream it haunts. All other Wagtails 
may be seen in meadows, ploughed fields, and uplands; but though I 
have repeatedly seen this one within the last year in England, Wales, 
Ireland, and Switzerland, I never but once saw it away from the 
water, and then it was for the moment upon a high road in Dorset¬ 
shire, and within a few yards of a brook and pool. Those who wish 
to identify it must remember its long tail and its love of water, and 
must also look out for the beautiful sulphur yellow of its under parts; 
in the spring both male and female have a black chin and throat, like 
our common Pied Wagtail.” 
Chapter III. of “A Year with the Birds ” carries the 
reader away to the Alps, and a delightful jaunt it is ; the only 
fault we can find with it is that it is much too short. The 
next two chapters relate to birds as seen in a Midland village, 
and Chapter YI. to “ The Birds of Virgil. ’ In departing 
from our usual custom by presenting long extracts from this 
book, our object has been to excite our readers to buy a copy 
for their own bookshelves, and when they have done so we 
feel quite sure of their gratitude. The book is beautifully 
printed, and bound with much taste. It is dedicated “ Patri 
meo qui cum aucupis nomine avium amorem filio tradidit.” 
Our readers will readily infer the author’s name. 
