AN ILL-USED BENEFACTOR. 153 



thing from among them, hut the ripple of the 

 current prevents more accurate ohservatioii on 

 your part. At last he comes once more to the 

 surface, and, alarmed at your presence, darts along 

 the hum. His flight is as even as that of a 

 partridge, and he presents an easy shot. To 

 satisfy yourself of his guilt or innocence, you 

 reluctantly pull the trigger and he floats lifeless 

 on the stream. Now for the trial. You carefully 

 dissect his crop and stomach and examine their 

 contents, and you discover several larvae of 

 phryganea and ephemera, minute hectics, and 

 other aquatic insects, and several very small fresh- 

 water snails,* hut you search in vain for the ova of 

 trout. Such an incident as I have just hurriedly 

 described has occurred to myself repeatedly, and 

 the result of my observations induces me to 

 believe not only in the harmlessuess of this in- 

 teresting little bird whose spring song, by the 

 way, is exceedingly melodious, but that instead 

 of being a destroyer of fish-spawn, he really 

 assists in its preservation, by acting as a check on 

 the increase of various predacious water-beetles, 

 and other aquatic insects whose ravenous grubs or 

 lame furnish his favourite food. His persecutors 



* I have found uandhoppers, Talitris locutta, in the stomachs of 

 some dippers killed ou the banks of large rivers, 



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