286 THE MOUNTAINS OF CALIFOKNIA 



my three dearly welcome visitors took up their 

 station, and at once began to embroider the frosty 

 air with their delicious melody, doubly delightful 

 to me that particular morning, as I had been some 

 what apprehensive of danger in breaking my way 

 down through the snow-choked canons to the low 

 lands. 



The portion of the lake bottom selected for a 

 feeding-ground lies at a depth of fifteen or twenty 

 feet below the surface, and is covered with a short 

 growth of alga3 and other aquatic plants, facts I 

 had previously determined while sailing over it 

 on a raft. After alighting on the glassy surface, 

 they occasionally indulged in a little play, chasing- 

 one another round about in small circles ; then all 

 three would suddenly dive together, and then come 

 ashore and sing. 



The Ouzel seldom swims more than a few yards 

 on the surface, for, not being web-footed, he makes 

 rather slow progress, but by means of his strong, 

 crisp wings he swims, or rather flies, with celerity 

 under the surface, often to considerable distances. 

 But it is in withstanding the force of heavy rap 

 ids that his strength of wing in this respect is 

 most strikingly manifested. The following may 

 be regarded as a fair illustration of his power of 

 sub-aquatic flight. One stormy morning in winter 

 when the Merced River was blue and green with 

 unmelted snow, I observed one of my ouzels perched 

 on a snag out in the midst of a swift-rushing rapid, 

 singing cheerily, as if everything was just to his 

 mind; and while I stood on the bank admiring 

 him, he suddenly plunged into the sludgy current, 



