326 THE AMERICAN WATER OUZEL. 



health. Llul you wuuld far rather know of his, for he has just come out of the 

 icv hath, and as he sidles down the r(.)ck, tittering expectanth, \iiu iudge he is 

 contemplating another one. Yes; without more ado the bird wades into the 

 stream where the current is so swift you are sure it would sweep a man ofT 

 his feet. He flisappears beneath its surface and you shudder at the possibili- 

 ties, but after a half minute of suspense he bursts out of the seething waters a 

 dozen feet bel(_)W and Hits back to his rock chuckling cheerily. This time, it may 

 be. he will rest, and you have opportunity to note the slightly retrousse aspect 

 of the beak in its attachment to the head. The bird has stopped sjjringing now 

 and stands as stolid as an Indian, save as ever and again he delivers a slow 

 wink, u])side down, with the white nictitating membrane. 



It has been asserted that the Ouzel flies under water, but I think that 

 this is a mistake, except as it mav use its wings to reach the surface of the 

 water after it has released its hold ui^on the bottom. The Isird creeps and 

 clings, rather, and is thus able to withstand a strong current as well as to attain 

 a depth of several feet in quieter waters. 



The Water Ouzel feeds largel}- upon the lar\;e nf the caddice fly, known 

 locally as periwinkles. These are found clinging to the under surface of stones 

 lining the stream, and their discovery requires quite a little prying and ptiking 

 on the bird's part. The Ouzels are also said to be destructi\'e to fish fry, inso- 

 much that the director of a hatcliery in British Columbia felt impelled to order 

 the destruction of all the Ouzels, to the nuniljer of several lumdred, which 

 wintered along a certain protected stream. This was a very regrettalile neces- 

 sity, if necessity it was, and one which might easily lead to misunderstanding 

 between bird-men and fish-men. We are fond of trout ourselves, but we con- 

 fess to being a great deal fonder of this adventuresome water-s])rite. 



The Ouzel is non-migratory, but the summer haunts of the birds in the 

 mountains are largely closed to them in winter, so that they find it necessary at 

 that season to retreat to the lower levels. This is done, as it were, reluctantly, 

 and nothing short of the actual blanketing of snow or ice will drive them to 

 forsake the higher waters. The bird is essentially solitary at this season, as 

 in summer, and when it repairs to a lower station, along late in November, 

 there is no little strife engendered by the discussion of metes and bounds. In 

 the winter of 1895-6, being stationed at Chelan, I had occasion to note that the 

 same Ouzels appeared daily along the upper reaches of the Chelan River. Think- 

 ing that such a local attachment might be due to similar occupation down stream, 

 I set out one afternoon to follow the river down for a mile or so, and to ascer- 

 tain, if possible, how many bird-squatters had laid out claims along its tur- 

 linlent course. In places wdiere there was an unusually long succession of 

 rapids, it was not alwavs possible to decide l^etween the conflicting interests 

 of rival claimants, for they flitted tip and down overlapping by short flights 

 each other's domains: but the very fact that these (^verla])pings often occa- 



