134 NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



Where found Nest Eggs. 



emerged on the other side of the inlet, which it 

 thus repeatedly forded. It traversed the whole 

 of the bottom/ seemed not to have changed its 

 element, and discovered no hesitation or re- 

 luctance in the immersion. However, I per- 

 ceived several times, that as often as it waded 

 deeper than the knee, it displayed its wings, and 

 allowed them to hang to the ground. I remarked 

 too, that when I could discern it at the bottom of 

 the water, it appeared enveloped with air, which 

 gave it a brilliant surface; like some sort of bee- 

 tles, which in water are always inclosed in a bub- 

 ble of air. Its view in dropping its wings on en- 

 tering the water, might be to confine this air ; it 

 was certainly never without some, and it seemed 

 to quiver. These singular habits were unknown 

 to all the sportsmen with whom I talked on the 

 subject; and, perhaps, without the accident of 

 the snow-hut in which I was concealed, I should 

 also have for ever remained ignorant of them ; but 

 the above facts 1 can aver, as the bird came quite 

 to my feet, and that I might observe it I refrained 

 from killing it. See the annexed engraving. 



Water-ouzels are found in many parts of Eu- 

 rope. The female makes her nest on the ground, 

 in some mossy bank near the water, of hay and 

 -dried fibres, lining it with dry oak-leaves, and 

 forming to it a portico or entrance of moss. The 

 eggs are five in number ; white, tinged with a 

 fine blush of red. A pair of these birds, which 

 bad for many years built under a small wooden 



