yiS BRITISH BIRDS. 



to an acute observer, flits before him chirping as it 

 goes from stone to stone, and apparently with so feeble 

 a wing, that he imagines it unfledged, utterly incapable 

 of rising into the air, and consequently easily taken. 

 But as he confidently pursues, the bird flits on, flirts its 

 tail, and now and then jerks round, as if half astonished, 

 half inviting. But onward they fare, till they come to 

 a bolder and tougher stratum which has impeded the 

 stream, but at the same time has given it fall and force 

 enough to form a pool below, which boiling where the 

 cascade plunges or rises again, is calm enough when 

 compared with others that have been passed. The 

 water merely leaves a clean and pebbled beach, and the 

 lofty rocks on the other side allow no footing for a bird. 

 Hopping, and apparently badly-winged, the ouzel halts 

 on the beach, and forward rushes the pursuer, hat in 

 hand to the capture, but the wet stones are treacherous, 

 and down he falls, and dips himself. Now rising, he 

 sees the hat which was to secure the bird, whirling 

 round and round in the eddies. And the bird has 

 vanished ! Soon, however, it bobs to the surface, at 

 the lower end of the pool on the other side, its feathers 

 dry without shaking off the water, and leaping first on 

 one stone then on another, it descends the ravine in a 

 manner as cool and collected as that with which it rose. 



