EOCK AND RIVER OUSELS. 305 



"seized from shore to shore, 

 The whole imprisoned river growls below," 



to hear this little bird, perched upon the frozen mass, 

 strike up its cheerful song. Not another note is then to 

 be heard, which gives it the more imposing effect, like 

 the nightingale at midnight, making dreariness more 

 dreary by contrast. The pipe of this river-minstrel is not 

 unlike the first attempts of the thrush in early spring, when 

 a cold wind a little checks its power. 



A friend of mine had the good hap to shoot a white 

 ousel on the banks of the Clyde. I narrowly inspected it, 

 and could not detect a single dark feather. Legs, beak, 

 and all had exactly the same cream-coloured shade. 



I have several times been fairly cheated by the water 

 ousel, and had a fruitless stalk for ducks through its 

 means. Seated at a distance, upon a small stone, it is 

 often difficult, even with one's glass, not to mistake it for 

 the head, and the stone for the body of a duck. If the 

 ousel does not fly, his motions appear exactly like the duck 

 moving its head. His restless disposition, however, seldom 

 allows him to remain long enough on the stone to keep 

 up the deception, and, generally before commencing ope- 

 rations, you see the duck's head fly off. I have noticed 

 this bird with a large worm in its beak, which it had 

 picked out of the banks of a mossy brook, high among 

 the hills, its summer residence. During the severity 

 of winter, it always prefers larger streams, its favourite 

 food being the spawn of fish, and minute water-insects. 



