. The American natural history; a foundation of useful knowledge of the higher animals of North America. Natural history. 188 OEDEES OF BIEDS—PEECHEES AIS^D SINGEES November, on the strip of ice whieh fringed the edge of the roaring, swirUng, icy-eold water which plunges into the Shoshone Canyon at the forks of the Shoshone River. Man or beast stepping into that foaming torrent would have been crushed against the rocks, and drowned at the. -MOCKING-BIBD. same moment,—two deaths in one. In that grim and terrible solitude, fast in the embrace of early winter, we saw on the snow-white brink of th
. The American natural history; a foundation of useful knowledge of the higher animals of North America. Natural history. 188 OEDEES OF BIEDS—PEECHEES AIS^D SINGEES November, on the strip of ice whieh fringed the edge of the roaring, swirUng, icy-eold water which plunges into the Shoshone Canyon at the forks of the Shoshone River. Man or beast stepping into that foaming torrent would have been crushed against the rocks, and drowned at the. -MOCKING-BIBD. same moment,—two deaths in one. In that grim and terrible solitude, fast in the embrace of early winter, we saw on the snow-white brink of the ice-bank a tiny dark object, which closer inspection revealed to he a bird. It looked like a large gray wren. As we paused to regard it, it blithely flew down into mid-stream, and dived head foremost into a chilly wave that ran ten niik^s an hour. An instant later it reappeared, all unruffled and unwet, blithely flew back to the edge of the ice, and alighted once more. Then wc knew well what it was; for it could be nothing else than the Water-Ouzel. Afterward, we saw others along the line of the Denver & Rio Grande Railway where it winds its way through the Rocky Moun- tains. Where the walls of the Royal Gorge al- most crowd the train into the Arkansas River is a good place to watch for them. This bird is a diving thntsli! Nature has fitted it to dive boldly into the coldest and most turlsulent water, or through a water-fall, and even to walk on the bottom of a still pool, with- out being at all disturbed. Both in form and size this little creature is like a large wren, but it is so peculiar it occupies a genus quite alone. Of course it is not web-footed; and in appear- ance it exhibits not one feature suggestive of a semi-aquatic life. Its home is along the foam- ing torrents of the Rocky Mountains, and Sierra Nevadas, from Alaska to Guatemala. It nests close beside swift-running streams, sometimes beside or even behind a cascade. It is known that this strange bird g
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