34 LAKES AND RIVERS. 



stream of which they were hurried with such rapidity 

 that I supposed it was impossible any of them could 

 have escaped destruction. They did so, however, 

 and landed safely far below." ("Oology," vol. i. p. 78.) 

 Sir William Jardine, a practical naturalist, gives an 

 excellent description of its habits in his native country. 

 "The common water-crow, or pyet, as it is familiarly 

 termed in Scotland, is a favourite with every one who 

 resides near its haunts. The solitary and secluded 

 nature of the streams it frequents, and their often 

 wild character, render it a most fitting accompaniment, 

 sufficient to break the solitude, but never obtruding 

 on the calmness of the picture : one of those beautiful 

 instances of nature's chaste compositions, where the 

 life of the landscape combines to harmonize with all 

 around, and here the effect is still more brought 

 home by the simple and peculiar melody of its song. 

 Its common locality in summer is rocky alpine or 

 sub-alpine streams, and it seems indifferent whether 

 the banks are thickly clothed with wood and natural 

 brush, or are bare and barren. If civilization has 

 encroached on their retreats, and machinery and mills 

 have been in consequence erected, it accommodates 

 itself to the event, loses its secluded habits, and 

 seems to enjoy the bustle. It may often be seen 

 perched on the inner spokes of the mill-wheel, singing 

 its low melody, and we have known it to breed within 

 the passage of the torrent which drove it. In such 

 places they live in pairs, each having, as it were, a 

 locality or limit within which they range, and select 

 an appropriate situation for the nest. They sport 

 about the banks of the stream, flying short distances, 



