CHAP, xxv.] WATER-OUZELS-KINGFISHER. 199 



malcula which he can dislodge. On two or three occasions, I 

 have witnessed this act of the water-ouzel, and have most dis- 

 tinctly seen the bird walking and feeding in this manner under 

 the pellucid waters of a Highland burn. It is in this way that 

 the water-ouzel is supposed to commit great havoc in the spawn- 

 ing beds of salmon and trout, uncovering the ova, and leaving 

 what it does not eat open to the attacks of eels and other fish, or 

 liable to be washed away by the current ; and, notwithstanding 

 my regard for this little bird, I am afraid I must admit that he 

 is guilty of no small destruction amongst the spawn. 



The water-ouzel has another very peculiar habit, which I have 

 never heard mentioned. In the coldest days of winter I have 

 seen him alight on a quiet pool, and with out-stretched wings 

 recline for a few moments on the water, uttering a most sweet 

 and merry song then rising into the air, he wheels round and 

 round for a minute or two, repeating his song as he flies back 

 to some accustomed stone. His notes are so pleasing, that he 

 fully deserves a place in the list of our song-birds ; though I 

 never found but one other person, besides myself, who would own 

 to having heard the water-ouzel sing. In the early spring, too, 

 he courts his mate with the same harmony, and pursues her from 

 bank to bank singing as loudly as he can often have I stopped 

 to listen to him as he flew to and fro along the burn, apparently 

 full of business and importance then pitching on a stone, he 

 would look at me with such confidence, that, notwithstanding 

 the bad name he has acquired witli the fishermen, I never could 

 make up my mind to shoot him. He frequents the rocky burns 

 far up the mountains, building in the crevices of the rocks, and 

 rearing his young in peace and security, amidst the most wild 

 and magnificent scenery. 



The nest is large, and built, like a wren's, with a roof the 

 eggs are a transparent white. 



The people here have an idea that the water-ouzel preys on 

 small fish, but this is an erroneous idea ; the bird is not adapted 

 in any way either for catching fish or for swallowing them. 



During a severe frost last year, I watched for some time a 

 common kingfisher, who, by some strange chance, and quite 

 against its usual habits, had strayed into this northern latitude. 

 He first caught my eye while darting like a living emerald along 



