DAYS IN DOVE DALE 2$ 



got by those birds. I have heard that, not- 

 withstanding his being a clergyman, he had 

 made a bet of ten pounds with another man 

 who declared there were no water ouzels on 

 ' The Dove/ and of course he won it." l 



Thus we chatted along. I asked him if he 

 could tell me how to get a good appetite, and 

 he said that if I could not get a good appetite 

 for dinner after such a climb as he had seen 

 me perform, he could offer me no better pre- 

 scription. For himself, he always did with 

 one good meal a day ; " but then," says he, 

 " I generally take from five to six pints of 

 beer a day, and I find it does me good. I 

 am on my feet about these hills and dales 

 from daylight to dark, and I don't know as 

 there is ever anything the matter with me." 



1 There seems to be a speciality about the neck feathers 

 of the real ouzel which mark its character ; and these 

 feathers are found on "The Dove" ouzel. Maunder 

 identifies it with " The Dipper" ; if so, the keeper was 

 wrong as to that little white-backed bird. The other 

 kind, I find, is called the Ring ouzel, of which "the 

 breast of the male is distinguished by a crescent of pure 

 white, which almost surrounds the neck ; on the female 

 this crescent is much less conspicuous, and in some birds 

 it is wholly wanting " : this is certainly not the ousel of 

 " The Dove/' 



