When out exercising these big vari-coloured dogs make a fine
show. It is curious to find that, although these individual
variations are continually appearing--very large dogs born of
dogs of medium size--others cannot be bred from them; the
variety cannot be fixed.
The village is not picturesque. Its one perennial charm is
the swift river that flows through it, making music on its
wide sandy and pebbly floor. Hither and thither flit the
wagtails, finding little half-uncovered stones in the current
to perch upon. Both the pied and grey species are there; and,
seeing them together, one naturally wishes to resettle for
himself the old question as to which is the prettiest and most
graceful. Now this one looks best and now that; but the
delicately coloured grey and yellow bird has the longest tail
and can use it more prettily. Her tail is as much to her,
both as ornament and to express emotions, as a fan to any
flirtatious Spanish senora. One always thinks of these dainty
feathered creatures as females. It would seem quite natural
to call the wagtail "lady-bird," if that name had not been
registered by a diminutive podgy tortoise-shaped black and red
beetle.
So shallow is the wide stream in the village that a little
girl of about seven came down from a cottage, and to cool her
feet waded out into the middle, and there she stood for some
minutes on a low flat stone, looking down on her own wavering
image broken by a hundred hurrying wavelets and ripples.
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