284 THE MOOR AND THE LOCH. 



singly or in pairs, but in winter they often congregate in 

 some favoured river, and may then be seen in great numbers. 

 They do not always select the places where fish are most 

 abundant, as we should imagine from their living so much 

 on the roe, and the water-insects that prey on it. I stumbled 

 upon a newly-flown nest of these birds, when fishing the 

 brook that separates Loch Katrine from Achray, and could 

 easily have caught some of them ; but I rather amused myself 

 by watching their unformed bows and curtseys copied, no 

 doubt, from the parents, who were flitting up and down in 

 great alarm. 



The water-ousel is a hardy bird, especially for one that 

 does not migrate in summer ; and it is a novelty, when land 

 and water are bound by an iron frost, and, 



" 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 chills 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 



