ROCK AND RIVER OUSELS. 303 



summer were birds of that year, although the crescent of 

 one shot by the gardener, evidently an old male, was far 

 less pure than in spring, and certainly not so fully pro- 

 nounced. A pair had their nest on the crags of Arthur's 

 Seat, a few summers ago, and I often watched them 

 with interest. The crescent in both, particularly the 

 male, was silvery as the moon's, and the birds were not 

 wild. Their song is pleasing, though melancholy. This 

 bird has always been a great favourite with me, most 

 likely from association, for it loves " the unplanted places." 



The little Dipper, or river ousel, is no less attractive. 

 There is a look of loneliness about this little inhabitant of the 

 flood like the solitudes it frequents. Often, in the deepest 

 and most tangled recess of the mountain-burn, or perched 

 upon some gaunt stone by the side of the muirland loch, 

 the water ousel, when disturbed by some chance explorer of 

 nature, will fly cheerily forward, and, re-settling upon the 

 clear water, seems, by the buoyancy of its little movements, 

 to try to impart its happiness to the thoughtful visitant. 



The food of this bird consists of water insects, the 

 roe of fish, &c.; but its bill does not seem formed for 

 seizing the small fry, as the kingfisher does. It is also 

 incapable of feeding at any great depth, from the want of 

 web feet, on which account it generally chooses the shal- 

 lows where the salmon and trout roe is deposited. I have 

 twice seen it feed upon some very minute substance about 

 a foot from the surface, but whether animalculse or not, it 

 was impossible to ascertain. The first time, when after 

 wild-ducks on the river Tay, I saw a motion in a clear 



