BRITISH BIRDS* 
17 
neck and throat, are of a fnowy white ; and the 
black and white on the belly and bread: are fepa- 
rated by a rufty brown. The legs and toes are 
Ihort and flrong, the fcales pale blue, the hinder 
part and joints brown ; the claws are curved, and 
the toes are diftindly parted, without any mem- 
braneous fubftance between to join them. 
This folitary fpecies is removed from the place it 
has hitherto holden in all fyilems among the land 
birds : it ought not to be claffed any longer with 
the Ouzels and Thrulhes, to which it bears no 
affinity. Its manners and habits are alfo different 
from thofe birds, and are peculiar to itfelf. It is 
chiefly found in the high and mountainous parts 
of the country, and always by the fides of brooks 
and rocky rivers, but particularly where they fall 
in cafcades, or run with great rapidity among 
ftones and fragments of broken rocks ; there it 
may be feen perched on the top of a ftone in the 
midfl: of the torrent, in a continual dipping motion, 
or fliort courtefy often repeated, whilfl: it is watch- 
ing for its food, which confifts of fmall fifhes and 
infers. The feathers of this bird, like thofe of the 
Duck tribe, are impervious to v/ater, whereby it 
is enabled to continue a long time in that fluid 
without fuftaining the leafl: injury. But the mofl: 
lingular trait in its charadler, (and it is well 
authenticated) is that of its poffeffing the power of 
walking, in queft of its prey, on the pebbly bot» 
VoL 11. t C 
