MR. GOULD'S OPINION. 03 



obtained by myself and other gentlemen 

 (especially the gentleman whose letter I now 

 have by me), and which have been lately 

 published in " The Field," all the evidence 

 of the witnesses going to prove that the con- 

 tents of the water-ouzel's gizzard were not 

 ova, but the remains of water insects. 



John Gould, Esq., P.R.S., the highest Euro- 

 pean authority on all relating to birds, &c., 

 then put into my hands the last number of 

 his magnificent work, " The Birds of Great 

 Britain/' and requested me to read aloud to 

 the meeting the following : 



" Among fishermen the water-ouzel has a 

 bad character, from their belief that it feeds 

 upon the ova of the trout and salmon ; hence 

 in some parts of Scotland it is destroyed by 

 every device ; but the charge, in my opinion, 



