190 WILD ANIMALS OF GLACIER NATIONAL PAEK. 



But what would happen to the young when they left the nest? 

 Would they fall into the frothing, swirling torrent and be washed 

 downstream? Their parents had no such anxieties. Ledges and cav- 

 erns that seemed faii'ly negligible from the top of the gorge, from 

 below proved veritable mammoth caves for exploration by fledgelings. 

 And if a too-venturesome one went too close to the water, a thud of 

 spray on its back taught it a lesson. 



Another ouzel's nest, this time about 30 feet above the creek on 

 the ledges besides Baring Falls, was one of the prime interests of 

 visitors to Going-to-the-sun Camp, and while the nest itself was pro- 

 tected from the too curious by the heavy spray of the cataract, in 

 going to and from it the ouzels sometimes — as on the occasion of the 

 visit of the Ploward Eaton party^iad to run the gauntlet of a long 

 row of siiectators. 



After the nesting season two nests were found near the falls of 

 ]\IcDonald Creek where the harlequins rode the rapids. Ouzels were 

 seen flying up the beautiful waterfall — split by red rocks — just off 

 the Granite Park trail, and they i3rol)ably had a nest at its foot. In 

 a number of other places in the park the birds were seen in j^assing, 

 either about falls or fl3nng swiftly up or down mountain streams. 

 The,y were so busy feeding young that their song was seldom heard; 

 but it is a delightful one, that should be carefully listened for, and 

 that may be heard in the park in winter. 



In writing of winter experiences with the ouzels Mr. Higginson 

 says : " I very much doubt if the weather ever comes that drives these 

 birds to take shelter. On a day in January, with the thermometer 

 at 35° below zero and everything combining to make the weather 

 unbearable, I heard one of these birds, and looking out discovered 

 him sitting on a little rock in the middle of an icy mountain stream 

 pouring forth his song at the very top of his little lungs. Many 

 people do not know what a sweet song the dipper possesses, as sweet 

 a strain as one often hears, poured out with all the subdued energy 

 of the winter wren, whose song it sometimes resembles." 



The hardy little musicians are early builders. On April 21, 1918, 

 Mr. Bailey found a pair carrying building material under the Fish 

 Creek log bridge near Lake McDonald, and the next day found a pair 

 lining their nearly completed nest in a niche of the rock wall below 

 the falls on McDonald Creek, where he had found two old nests the 

 previous summer. 



Family MIMIDiE: Mockingbirds, Catbirds, etc. 



Catbird: Dumefdld vdvoUnengis. — At the upper St. Mary Lake 

 July 21, when looking for new and strange harlequin ducks, I Avas 

 surprised to come face to face with a homelike catbird, with slate- 



