268 THE MOOR AND THE LOCH. 



I remember three being taken alive, by a water-dog, on the 

 Thames, of a rich cream colour. They all kept to the same 

 bend of the river, and were constantly noticed gamboling 

 among the reeds before they were captured. I never saw more 



the evidence of one eyewitness, but who affirmed instantly that he could bring 

 twenty witnesses to swear they did not see him commit the crime. 



In his 'Birds of the West of Scotland,' page 71, Mr Gray writes : "This fav- 

 ourite both of poets and naturalists is cruelly shot by keepers and others igno- 

 rant of its innocent life, as an enemy to those who practise the gentle art in 

 our Highland streams. Writing from the parish of Aberlour, the Rev. Alexander 

 Wilson takes notice that the water-ousel was at that time abundant in the Spey 

 and its tributaries ; and also that during the time of spawning it was considered 

 very destructive to the spawn of both trout and salmon. ' Formerly,' adds Mr 

 Wilson, ' any person who succeeded in killing one of these birds was allowed the 

 privilege of fishing in the close season ; but for a long time back this has been 

 lost sight of.' 



" Mr Brown informs me that to this day a reward of sixpence a-head is given 

 for dippers in some parts of Sutherlandshire. I believe it will be admitted by 

 those who have studied the habits of this bird, that it feeds almost exclusively 

 on fresh-water shells and the larvae of aquatic insects, and that it is therefore 

 a groundless charge to suppose that it destroys the spawn of fish. Instead of 

 doing harm in this way, it is, in fact, the angler's best friend, by devouring im- 

 mense quantities of the larvse of dragon-flies and water-beetles creatures which 

 are known to live to a great extent upon the spawn and even the newly-hatched 

 fly of both trout and salmon." 



In page 198 of ' Highland Sports,' &c., St John maintains that the " water-ousel 

 walks and runs on the ground at the bottom of the water, scratching with its 

 feet among the small stones, and picking away at all the small insects and ani- 

 malcula which he can dislodge. It is in this way that the water-ousel is supposed 

 to commit great harm in the spawning-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." Mr St John affirms that on two or three occasions he had 

 witnessed this act of the water-ousel, and " most distinctly seen the bird walking 

 and feeding in this manner under the pellucid waters of a Highland burn. " 



"Doctors as well as tastes differ," and so do these two observant modern 

 naturalists. My opinion is the same as Mr St John's, and I can give the one 

 direct evidence which condemned poor Paddy in defiance of his twenty friends. 

 N"o doubt my opponents will, like Pat, stick to the twenty and ignore the 

 damaging unit. 



When my son was quartered in the north of Scotland, a gardener, living close 

 to his barracks, noticed that most of the water-ousels of a burn running past his 

 garden assembled in a large pool within sight of his work. As an experiment, he 

 baited three tiny fish-hooks with salmon-roe, and placed them in the pool, when 

 an ousel was caught next morning. My son was much interested in this ousel- 

 fishing, and will be glad to vouch for it to any inquirer. To show that this bird 

 likes other food besides "the larvse of aquatic insects and fresh- water shells," I 



