GREY WAGTAIL. 
373 
Notwithstanding the differences shewn to exist 
between the present animal and the species just 
alluded to, it is certainly more allied to that, than to 
any other hind. Its place among the Voles is clearly 
established by the hairiness of the tail and its 
shortness compared to the body, by the great size 
of the head, and the coarse appearance of the fur. 
Its specific and distinctive characters may for the 
present be concisely enumerated thus;— Shaggy 
Vole; head, body, and legs covered with a very long 
shaggy, and scanty fur; whiskers long, snout rather 
produced, toes and thumb of the fore feet all pro¬ 
vided with claws; tail covered with short, and 
rather bristly hairs. I propose the name Arvicola 
liirta for this species. When possible to provide 
a specific name from some peculiarity of outward, 
or superficial appearance, 1 think it right to do so, 
and the word “ hirta ” here implies at once that the 
animal is covered by long, weak hairs, or by a 
shaggy fur. 
Movements of the Motacillce in South Devon .— 
The Grey Wagtail, (Motacilla boarula,) visits us 
without deviation yearly in the month of September, 
and remains until the end of March or the first week 
of April, frequenting rivers, brooks, spring-heads, 
and the sea-coast. Some circumstance determines 
a slight irregularity of a few days, both in their 
arrival and departure,—most probaldy it is their 
food; but in respect of number there is apparently 
little difference. They seem to come in a body, and 
attract immediate attention by their tameness, and 
the briskness of their motions. Their retreat 
however, is accomplished in a straggling manner: 
suddenly we lose the bulk of the party, and hear 
only the twit of a solitary bird or so on the bank 
of a river, or at a spring-head ; in a few days these 
also are gone, and we see no more of them for a 
season. But, this species has been known to 
