THRUSH. 41 



sake of food, living chiefly on insects, and small fish, which it 

 searches for in a singular manner by diving, and running under water 

 for them, in the same manner as on the land ;* it makes the nest on 

 the ground, and often among the moss and grass, resembling that of 

 a Wren, but more round, and the lateral hole more oval ; the longest 

 side horizontal, the cover of the aperture somewhat projecting ; the 

 materials are moss, fibres, and some fine-leaved water plants, the 

 inside oak and ivy leaves ; the egg perfectly white, and transparent, 

 shewing a blush of red, by the appearance of the colour of the yolk 

 through the shell. Colonel Montagu found a nest on a bank, under 

 the arch of a bridge, about five miles from Lougharne, the 4th of 

 May, 1791, and it was so well adapted to the surrounding materials, 

 that nothing, but the old bird flying in with a fish in its bill, would 

 have led to the discovery ; which it was observed to do at another 

 time, when the young were nearly full feathered, but incapable of 

 flight; and the moment the nest was disturbed, the young fluttered 

 out, dropped into the water, and instantly vanished ; but in a little 

 time made their appearance at some distance down the stream ; and 

 it was with difficulty that two out of the five were taken, as they 

 dived on being approached. f 



This is common in Germany, and in various parts of the Russian 

 Empire, as far as the Caspian Sea, and met with even as far north 

 as Kamtschatka ; Mr. Ellis also found it at Aoonalaschka ;£ but it is 

 not the cold alone that will make it desert its haunts, nothing less 

 than the streams being frozen up. 



* Kramer mentions the circumstance of one being caught under water by a line and 

 hook, which had been baited to catch fish.— Elench. p. 374. 



f It is not easy to account for the capability of this bird to remain under water for any 

 length of time, as its specific gravity, being less than that element, would cause it to tend to 

 the surface ; and it is well known that several birds, which frequent the water, and even swim 

 upon it, are incapable of diving at all. + Narr. ii. p. 43. 



VOL. V. G 



