" WATER-OUZEL FULLY ACQUITTED." 167 



The water-ouzel has unexpectedly got justice done 

 to him by the solemn verdict of a scientific meeting of 

 the Zoological Society in February 1863. Having been 

 fairly put upon his trial as a notour destroyer of fish- 

 spawn, the first verdict was " Not proven." This being 

 the form of a Scotch verdict, an English water-ouzel 

 was entitled to enter a demurrer. We are therefore 

 not surprised to learn that a distinguished ornitholo- 

 gist objected to it, and that the jury ultimately returned 

 their verdict thus : " Water-ouzel fully acquitted of the 

 charge pf eating fish-spawn." 



The fact is, the water-ouzel frequents the spawning- 

 beds in order to prey upon the insects which feed on 

 the ova of the fish ; so that in our merciless ignorance 

 we have been killing a piscicultural friend every time 

 we shot a water-ouzel ; just as, we believe, the farmer 

 hangs a friend every time he traps a mole. 



As to the feeding of " water-babies/' as Mr Buckland 

 affectionately calls his fishlings, they resemble land- 

 babies in this, that they are more apt to suffer from too 

 much than from too little food. The favourite fare at 

 Stormontfield is pounded sheep's liver ; but in France 

 pounded fish is much used; and M. Jourdier thus writes 

 of a kind of diet which we commended to public appro- 

 bation in " Hippophagy, or should we eat our Horses ? " 

 " Nothing is easier than to feed young fish with the 

 muscular flesh of the ox, bruised or cut so as to suit 

 the size of the little creatures ; and if this be too dear, 

 its place may be supplied by horse-flesh cooked or raw, 

 dried and pulverised." 



