WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS 



atall the small insectsandanimalcula which hecandislodo-e. 

 On two or three occasions, I have witnessed this act of the 

 water-ouzel, and have most distinctly seen the bird walking 

 and feeding in this manner under the pellucid waters of a 

 Highland burn. It is in this way that the water-ouzel is sup- 

 posed to commit great havoc in the spawning beds of sal- 

 mon and trout, uncovering the ova, and leaving what it 

 does not eat open to the attacks of eels and other fish, or 

 liable to be washed away by the current; and, notwith- 

 standing my regard for this little bird, I am afraid I must 

 admit that he is guilty of no small destruction amongst the 

 spawn.* 



The water-ouzel has another very peculiar habit, which 

 Ihavenever heard mentioned. In the coldest daysof winter 

 I haveseen him alight onaquiet pool, and with out-stretched 

 wings recline for a few moments on the water, uttering a 

 most sweet and merry song — then rising into the air, he 

 wheels round and round for a minute or two, repeating his 

 song as he flies back to some accustomed stone. His notes 

 are so pleasing, that he fully deserves a place in the list of 

 our song-birds;though I never found but one other person, 

 besides myself, who would own to having heard the water- 

 ouzel sing. In the early spring, too, he courts his mate with 

 the same harmony, and pursues her from bank to banksing- 



*The question whether the water-ousel preys on 6sh-spawn has been matter of dis- 

 pute from very distant time. St John having thrown the weight of his opinion against 

 the bird, it is but fair that an equally good naturalist should be heard on the other side. 

 The late Professor Newton wrote thus in his Dictionary of Birds: "By the careless 

 and the ignorant the dipper is accused of feeding on the spawn of fishes, and it has been 

 on that account subjected to much persecution. Innumerable examinations of the con- 

 tents of its stomach have not only proved that the charge is baseless, but that the bird 

 clears off many of the worst enemies of the precious product. — Ed. 



