Queiies atid Afisurrs, 541 



gamekeeper to shoot this pair. I think that the natives of 

 Calcutta were not more indignant when an unlucky English- 

 man got one of their sacred bulls into his compound, and 

 baited him, than was our little community at what we con- 

 sidered so great an outrage. The gamekeeper narrowly 

 escaped being stoned by myself and some more lads ; any of 

 whom would have shot fifty blackbirds or fieldfares without 

 any misgivings. 



Mr. Dovaston's remark, in II. 400., that this bird resembles 

 the wren in its habits and motions, is strikingly correct : it 

 nods and curtsies, and cocks its tail, in exactly the same man- 

 ner. Its nest, also, is similar in form to that of the wren. 



As some correspondents say that it is impossible for the 

 water ouzel to walk at the bottom of the water, owing to its 

 being of less specific gravity, I will not argue the point with 

 them ; but, disbelieving my own eyes, endeavour to submit 

 with a good grace : otherwise, I should have said that I have 

 repeatedly seen it doing so from a situation where I had an 

 excellent opportunity of observing it, the window of a build- 

 ing directly over the place where it was feeding. It walked 

 in, began to turn over the pebbles with its bill, rooting almost 

 like a pig ; and it seemed to have no difficulty whatever in 

 keeping at the bottom, at all depths where I could see it ; 

 and I have frequently observed it when the water just covered 

 it, and its head appeared above every time it lifted it up^ 

 which it did incessantly ; turning over a pebble or two, then 

 lifting its head, and again putting it below to seize the creepers 

 [larvae of insects] it had disturbed. Besides, its speed was 

 too slow for diving. Every aquatic bird with which I am 

 acquainted moves much faster when diving than when either 

 swimming or walking, and its course is generally in a straight 

 line, or nearly so ; but the water ouzel, when feeding, turns 

 to the right or left, or back again to where it started ; stops 

 and goes on, just as it does when out of the water. Yet, 

 when it wished, it seemed to have the power of altering its 

 own gravity ; as, after wading about two, or perhaps five, 

 minutes, where it could just get its head out, it would sud- 

 denly rise to the surface and begin to swim, which it does 

 quite as well as the water hen. The awkward, tumbling, 

 shuffling wriggle, which Mr. Dovaston speaks of [II. 400.], 

 is occasioned by the incessant motion of its head as it turns 

 over the gravel in search of creepers ; which, it appears to me, 

 form the whole of its food. 



Sir George Mackenzie says, or seems to think, that these 

 birds destroy salmon spawn; which, if correct, would go far 

 towards putting an end to my partiality for them : but I radier 



