The American Dipper 
established ourselves with the cameras, we found the Ouzel infants with 
their heads thrust out of the entrance and gasping for breath, for the day 
was very warm. The female fed almost immediately, and it was very 
amusing to see her stretching to the utmost from a point below, as though 
the youngsters must be fed whether or no, but she wasn’t coming a mite 
nearer the ogres than necessary. Thereafter, on the occasions of several 
visits, she tarried a long time without feeding, in spite of the outcries 
of her children only a foot away. Thenceforth, also, she insisted upon 
obtaining food from nearby waters as though to keep an eye on me. 
Several periods of comparative inactivity were spent in the offing, 
especially upon the pebbly shore opposite. 
It was noteworthy that the male appeared at no time with the female, 
but after an hour’s watching an exchange of offices was effected somewhere 
upstream, and the male took up the duties of feeding. He proved to be 
more venturesome and more demonstrative, and he voiced his uneasiness 
from time to time by singing snatches of the old-time spring song. Many 
of the phrases were rarely delicate and expressive, but none had the 
strength of mating days. 
A parental function no less important than that of feeding—and this 
is true of most Passerine birds—is the frequent removal from the nest of 
the juvenile excrement. That this lowly office may be attended with as 
little unpleasantness as possible, kindly nature has contrived a sort of self¬ 
wrapping device, so that the excreta are voided periodically in neat 
bundles, each enclosed in a viscous, whitish, and not uncleanly sac, or 
envelope. After each feeding, or each alternate feeding, the attendant 
parent seizes the fresh-dropped sac, or even receives it into her bill, and 
takes it off to drop it at some distance. This arrangement doubtless 
serves a double purpose: that of sanitation, whereby the health and com¬ 
fort of the offspring is assured; and that of disguising the exact neighbor¬ 
hood of a nest, and so diverting hostile attention, which would otherwise 
inevitably be attracted by the presence of droppings on the ground below. 
This latter precaution, at least, would seem to be unnecessary in the case 
of the Water Ouzel, but it is interesting to note that the parents take 
unusual precaution instead. Thus, when the fcecal sac is seized in the 
beak, the bird immediately seeks the stream and dives under water before 
releasing it. Whether or not this release is followed by some cleansing 
manipulation of the mandibles, it is impossible to say, but I should judge 
such to be the fact. No more favorable opportunity for the study of 
intimate home life exists than in the case of the Water Ouzel. And be 
assured that the birds are full of “human nature”; that is, they are enough 
like us in behavior to be understandable. So far from behaving like mere 
automatons, the birds show artifices, shrewdnesses, tendernesses, as well as 
738 
