THE MOCKING-BIRD. 235 



Devoid of brilliant plumage or graceful shape, it is yet one of the most interesting of 

 birds when watched in its favorite haunts. It always frequents rapid streams and channels, 

 and being a very shy and retiring bird, invariably prefers those spots where the banks over- 

 hang the water, and are clothed with thick brushwood. Should the bed of the stream be 

 broken up with rocks or large stones, and the fall be sufficiently sharp to wear away an occa- 

 sional pool, the Dipper is all the better pleased with its home, and in such a locality may 

 generally be found by a patient observer. 



The American Water-Ousel (Cinclus americanus) inhabits the Rocky Mountain range 

 from British America to Mexico. Dr. Cones, of the U. 8. Army, has given us an interesting 

 account of this bird : — 



"It may seem singular to speak of a thrush-like bird living in the water, but such is 

 exactly true in this case. Although not web-footed, nor able to swim with its feet, nor having 

 the slightest affinity with water-birds, nevertheless, there is no duck nor diver more truly 

 aquatic than the Dipper ; a great part of its time, in fact, being spent under water, where it 

 repairs in search of food. The question naturally arises how, if it cannot swim, it stays there, 

 or gets there at all. It flies down into the water, and flies about under the surface, using its 

 wings just as in ordinary flight. In the transparent brawling brooks it loves to frequent, we 

 may see it at times scrambling along the bottom, headed always up-stream, holding the body 

 inclined forward and downward, beating its wings, and so tripping along just over the bottom 

 of the brook. It seems to have some difficulty in keeping down, for the moment its exertions 

 are relaxed it comes to the surface ; sometimes being swept along for a considerable distance 

 by the force of the current. It may gather food in a more usual manner, but in any event most 

 of its subsistence is derived in this way from the water. 



" The birds of this group, Oinolidce, are the only ones that have truly aquatic habits. They 

 are all odd-looking birds — short and puff}', with a tail that looks as if it had been cut short. It 

 has curved, rounded wings, and stout feet. The plumage is exceedingly soft and thick, to 

 resist the water — something like that of a duck's breast, only much finer. The bird lives 

 close by the water, in the rear of the cascade and the purling of the stream, haunting the 

 stony banks that are slippery with moisture ; and where the moss grows the greenest, in the 

 spray of the waterfall, it builds its nest — an imposing mansion, indeed, for such a plain little 

 bird. The nest is a great globe of living moss, some thirty inches in circumference, on a slab 

 of stone, or in the crevice of a stranded stump, but always (dose by the water's edge. The 

 entrance is a neat doorway, made by a special arrangement of the moss in the shape of a hole 

 in one side, no larger than is sufficient to admit easy passage. Inside, this ball is lined with 

 fine grasses, keeping it snug, dry, and warm ; and in one season it contained four or five 

 white eggs." 



The Doctor adds some pleasant remarks about the aspect of this curious nest. The bird, 

 frequenting the water as it does constantly, naturally shakes herself as she alights upon the 

 mossy nest ; this results in a sprinkling from the wet plumage, and consequently a freshening 

 of the green moss patches. 



This species resembles the European, but has no white patch on the chest. 



The Mocking-bird of America (litmus polyglottus) is universally allowed to be the 

 most wonderful of all songsters, as it not only possesses a very fine and melodious voice, but is 

 also endowed with the capacity for imitating the notes of any other bird, and, indeed, of 

 immediately reproducing with the most astonishing exactness any sound which it may hear. 



It is a native of America, and, according to Mr. Webber, there are two varieties, if not two 

 species ; the one an inhabitant of Kentucky, and the other being found in the more southern 

 districts. All persons who come within the sound of a Mocking-bird's voice are fascinated 

 with the thrilling strains that are poured without effort from the melodious throat, and every 

 professed ornithologist who has heard this wonderful bird has exhausted the powers of his 

 language in endeavoring to describe the varied and entrancing melody of the Mockingbird. 

 Within the compass of one single throat the whole feathered race seems to be comprised, for 



