THE WATER OUZEL. 39 



leaf or bud, when the ground is crisp with frost, 

 and the streams are flowing beyond their bounds 

 from the large quantity of snow which has fallen 

 into them, even then the song of the water ouzel is 

 strong, rapid, and sweet, often continuing for three 

 or four minutes, and sounding through the clear air 

 like a voice of spring from the depths of winter. 

 In some of our northern counties, where these 

 birds are frequent, it would be difficult to pursue 

 the course of any stony rivulet for a mile or two 

 without seeing several of them flying in pairs a 

 little way onward; then stopping by the side of 

 the rivulet, and singing the sweet and varied 

 song. It is among the earliest strains of spring ; 

 it is sung even at Cliristmas. It gi'eets the 

 wanderer among the voices of summer, is heard 

 late in tlie autumn, and is not even silent when 

 night draws the curtain of repose on almost all 

 our singing birds. Those who have heard it very 

 often have compared it to the song of the wren in 

 its execution, though differing materially in not 

 having the loud shrillness of the wren's strain ; 

 but possessing instead a certain subdued and 

 warbling richness. Never is it sweeter than on 

 a frosty morning of January, 



