160 



ZOOLOGY— r.iiius. 



one of the noisy rapids, wliiili this httle bird, with its semi-aquatic habits, 

 so loves to frequent. It is aluiost devoid of shyness, and, when busied, as 

 it almost always is, in searching among the eddies for food, will allow its 

 movements to be scrutinized at leisure by a person standing quietly a few 

 paces away. It is constantly in motion, now flying swiftly from rock to 

 rock with quick strong vibrations of its short wings, now wading into tlie 

 sliallows, and with quick chish securing some unlucky crustacean or water- 

 beetle. Even when standing for a moment, and watching for the appearance 

 of the prey, its body is kept in motion by constant downward jerks, not of 

 the tail alone, but of the whole body, much like the Rock Wrens (Salpinctes 

 and Caiherpes), which are very gi-otesque, and give the bird the appear- 

 ance of constantly bowing. It dives and swims underwater, no matter how 

 strong the current, with the greatest facility, though it finds it unnecessary 

 to practice this on the shallow streams, where I have most often seen it, and in 

 the greatest numbers. Its song I have never heard, as it is silent after the 

 young are reared, save the chattering notes which accompany its short 

 flights from point to point. It winters on many of the streams of Utah, as 

 also in Arizona, where, however, it appears to be not nearly so abundant as 

 farther north ; many streams seemingly well adapted to its peculiai- habits 

 being uninhabited. On some few of the streams in the "White Mountains, 

 Ariz., however, quite a number were seen, and here I noticed an unusual and 

 interesting departure from the usual habits. On a small pond among the high 

 pine woods, occupying a perfectly isolated position, having neither inlet nor 

 outlet, was a pair of these birds, and seemingly as perfectly at home on the 

 borders of this quiet sheet of water as on the most tm-bulent rushing stream. 

 I thought, too, that, in keeping with their suiToundings, they had become less 

 active, and their motions lacked somewhat of the quick, business like energy 

 which usually characterizes them. 



