BRITISH BIRDS. 135 



breast are separated by a rusty brown. The legs 

 and toes are short and strong, the scales pale blue, 

 the hinder part and joints brown; the claws are 

 curved, and the toes are distinctly parted, without 

 any membrane between to join them. 



This solitary species has hitherto held a place in 

 this w r ork amongst the water birds, although it has 

 been classed in most systems with the Ouzels and 

 Thrushes, to which it bears little or no affinity. 

 Its manners and habits are also different from 

 those birds, and are peculiar to itself. It is chiefly 

 found in the high and mountainous parts of the 

 country, and always by the sides of brooks and 

 rocky rivers, but particularly where they fall in 

 cascades, or run with great rapidity among stones 

 and fragments of broken rocks; there it may be 

 seen perched on the top of a stone in the midst of 

 a torrent, in a continual dipping motion, or short 

 courtesy often repeated, whilst watching for its 

 food, which consists of small fishes and insects. 

 The feathers, like those of the Duck tribe, are 

 impervious to water, whereby it is enabled to con- 

 tinue a long time in that fluid without sustaining 

 injury. But the most singular trait in its character 

 is that of its possessing the power of walking, in 

 quest of its prey, on the pebbly bottom of a river, 

 and with the same ease as on dry land.* The 

 female makes her nest in the banks of a rivulet, 



* Being, from its specific gravity, much lighter than water, the 

 circumstance of its walking so easily at the bottom of the water is 

 doubted. Montagu admits his having seen it, but says, it appeared 

 to tumble about in a very extraordinary manner, with its head down- 

 wards, as if pecking something; and, at the same time, using great 

 exertion both with its wings and legs. 



