THE DIPPER FAMILY 43 
placed close to it, generally near a waterfall, 
sometimes even behind a waterfall, where he has 
to go through a curtain of falling water to reach 
it. It is on a shelf of rock, and shaped like a 
little hut, with a hole on one side for a door. It 
is made of soft green moss, which is kept alive 
and growing by constant sprinkling. Sometimes 
the waterfall itself keeps it wet, but the birds 
have been seen to sprinkle it themselves. They 
do it by diving into the water, then going to the 
top of the nest and shaking themselves vio- 
lently. 
This bird is a curious fellow. His food is the 
small insects which live under water, and he is 
as much at home there as other birds are in the 
air. He can walk on the bottom with swift run- 
ning water over his head, and he can really fly 
under water, using his wings as he does in the 
air. I have seen him do it. 
The water ouzel cares nothing for the cold. 
On cold mornings when all other birds sit 
humped up with feathers puffed out over their 
feet to keep warm, he is as jolly and lively as 
ever. He flies about in the snow, dives under 
the ice, and comes out at an airhole, and sings 
as if it were summer weather. 
Mr. John Muir, who knows so well the West- 
ern mountains and the creatures who live there, 
