WATER OUSELS. 357 



bird is another of the foster-parents sometimes chosen by 

 the Cow Troopial ; and she rears the foundling with her 

 accustomed care and affection, and keeps up an incessant 

 tsMp when her unfledged brood are even distantly ap- 

 proached. They have often two broods in a season in 

 the Middle States. Their food is wholly insects and 

 their larvae, particularly small coleopterous kinds and ants, 

 chiefly collected on the ground. 



This species is 6 inches long, and 9 in alar extent. Above rich 

 yellow-olive ; the tips of the wings and inner vanes of the quills dusky 

 brown ; the 3 first primaries are about equal. From the nostrils a 

 dusky line passes to the hind head ; crown brownish-orange. Be- 

 low white, the breast covered with deep brown pencil-shaped spots. 

 Legs pale flesh-color. Bill dusky, below whitish. In the female 

 the crown is paler. 



WATER OUSELS. (Cinclus, Cuvier.) 



In these birds the bill is of moderate size, straight, compressed, 

 the edges sharp and slightly incurved, and with the point of the up- 

 per mandible curved over the lower. Nostrils basal, lateral, con- 

 cave, longitudinal, and covered by a membrane. — Tarsus longer 

 than the middle toe ; outer toe attached to the inner at the base, the 

 lateral toes equal. Wings, with the 3d and 4th primaries longest. 



The female scarcely differs in plumage from the male ; — the 

 young more tinged with rufous. The moult is annual ; and the plu- 

 mage water-proof. 



These curious birds associate only in single pairs, and frequent 

 brooks and clear streams, diving and walking on the gravelly bottom 

 beneath the surface of the water, which constitutes their favorite 

 element. They feed on aquatic insects, small Crustacea, and the 

 spawn of the trout. They build in the vicinity of rivulets, a well 

 concealed, covered, and very artful nest. Their flight is rapid, 

 straight, and skimming along the surface of the water. The voice 

 is feeble and shrill. — r The genus consist of only 2 or 3 species indige- 

 nous to the northern, or mild regions. * 



