THE WATER OUZEL 
(Taken from "Samples of notebook Pages, destroyed 
on account of bulk, 1872, W. H. H. rf ) 
The odometer party started back to Camp. Peale, 
Platt, Savage and I were left. During the day I made 
some sketches in the canon below the lake and came upon a 
very fine bed of fossils. While on a steep bank or slope 
above the creek I noticed a strange little bird flitting 
along the water edge. On the opposite side a large 
stream of water poured out of the cliff some thirty or 
forty feet high and spread in white dashing sprays down 
over the moss covered rocks. The strange bird paused 
on the wing before the beautiful cascade, flitted for a 
moment and to my great surprise shot directly through the 
foaming sheet of water, and I knew immediately that I had 
found the home of the Cinculus Americanus - the Water Ouzel 
Descending to the foot of the fall I attempted to see 
through and behind the falling water but this was quite im- 
possible, and in trying to reach through at the place where 
the bird had disappeared, I was dashed away dripping wet by 
the force of the heavy torrent. The next day Platt went 
with me and by using a gum blanket to shield off the water, 
the nest was easily reached. It contained three young. 
