172 BIRDS OF THE ROCKIES 



will allow the current to carry him a short distance 

 down the stream, but he is always able to stop himself 

 at a chosen point. " Ever and anon, 11 says Mr. John 

 Muir, in his attractive book on "The Mountains of 

 California," "while searching for food in the rushing 

 stream, he sidles out to where the too powerful current 

 carries him off his feet ; then he dexterously rises on 

 the wing and goes gleaning again in shallower places."" 

 So it seems that our little acrobat is equal to every 

 emergency that may arise in his adventurous life. 



In winter, when the rushing mountain streams are 

 flowing with the sludge of the half-melted snow, so that 

 he cannot see the bottom, where most of his delicacies 

 lie, he betakes himself to the quieter stretches of the 

 rivers, or to the mill ponds or mountain lakes, where he 

 finds clearer and smoother water, although a little 

 deeper than he usually selects. Such weather does not 

 find him at the end of his resources ; no, indeed ! Hav- 

 ing betaken himself to a lake, he does not at once plunge 

 into its depths after the manner of a duck, but finding 

 a perch on a snag or a fallen pine, he sits there a mo- 

 ment, and then, flying out thirty or forty yards, "he 

 alights with a dainty glint on the surface, swims about, 

 looks down, finally makes up his mind, and disappears 

 with a sharp stroke of his wings." So says Mr. John 

 Muir, who continues : " After feeding for two or three 

 minutes he suddenly reappears, showers the water from 



