178 AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. 



side than on the top. It lays four or five white eggs, as 1 was informed 

 by a lad who found a nest for me after much patient observation, I was 

 exceedingly desirous to secure a nest and eggs, for 1 had never seen them. 

 In my boyhood days of egg-collecting 1 would have secured and added them 

 to my collection without compunction, but with the accumulation of years 

 I have become more thoughtful and humane, 1 suppose, and 1 could not 

 make up my mind to rob the mother ouzel of its home and future brood; 

 and in order to resist the temptation 1 did not visit the spot until the eggs 

 were hatched and the fledgelings flown. 



These birds cannot be said to be abundant in this section (U. S. Fish 

 Commission Station, Bozeman, Mont.), as I have never seen more than 

 three or four pairs on the creek near Bridger Canyon. They remain with 

 us during the entire year. 



During my first spring and summer in our hatchery I was much inter- 

 ested in the ouzels. There was one pair that somehow found our ponds 

 and were frequent visitors. They were very tame, sociable and compan- 

 ionable, as most anglers are aware. I watched them and studied them for 

 an hour at a time. I saw them alight on the edges of the ponds, running 

 along the brink like a pair of sandpipers, then suddenly walk into the water 

 and along the bottom across to the other side, where they would emerge, 

 and with their heads on one side look up at me quite knowingly, for I was, 

 perhaps, not ten feet from them. 



1 have seen them plunge into the water, while flying, and continue their 

 flight under the surface for the length of the pond. 1 have also seen them 

 dive, like kingfishers, from the top of the drain boxes into the water. 

 Then, again, 1 have observed them leave the shore and swim away on the 

 surface like so many ducklings. As the water in the ponds, at such times, 

 was very clear and still, the opportunities for these observations were very 

 favorable, for every motion, even under water, could be distinctly seen. 



It would be of the greatest interest to know how this aberrant species of 

 the perching group adopted the habits of a water bird, — habits so at vari- 

 ance with the rest of the passerine tribe. It would also be of equal inter- 

 est to imagine if in the future, after countless generations, the feet of the 

 ouzels would become webbed, and their bills and legs longer and better 

 adapted to their acquired habits, for acquired they must have been. On 

 the whole, however, this does not seem to be really necessary in the 

 economy of the ouzel, for it has certain physical advantages that the swim- 

 mers and waders do not possess, in addition to its imitative faculties. 



That the ouzel is a very intelligent bird, and one that is always ready 

 to take advantage of any circumstance or situation wherein its well being 

 is concerned, cannot be denied, for I have already mentioned some of its 

 habits wherein its ability for finesse and stratagem has been demonstrated. 



