lived by this brook; she was eager to see one, 

 and we stopped, at a promising place by the brook 

 to watch. In less than a minute one came flying 

 down the cascades, and so near to the surface of 

 the water that he seemed to be tumbling and slid- 

 ing down with it. He alighted on a boulder near 

 us, made two or three pleasant curtsies, and started 

 to sing one of his low, sweet songs. He was do- 

 ing the very thing of which I had so often told 

 Harriet. We watched and listened with breath- 

 less interest. In the midst of the song he dived 

 into the brook; in a moment he came up with 

 a water-bug in his bill, settled on the boulder 

 again, gave his nods, and resumed his song, seem- 

 ingly at the point where he left off. After a few 

 low, sweet notes he broke off again and plunged 

 into the water. This time he came up quickly and 

 alighted on the spot he had just left, and went 

 on with his song without any preliminaries and 

 as if there had been no interruption. 



The water-ouzel is found by the alpine lakes 

 and brooks on the mountains of the West. It 

 is a modest-appearing bird, about the size of a 

 thrush, and wears a plain dress of slaty blue. 



101 



