view raw text
JOYING WITH NATURE IN WOODS NaturalistFishermans Tribute to the Lovely American Water Ouzel A man was seated beside a swift mountain stream in the far west eating his luncheon A bird note like the tinkle of a silver bell struck his ear He was always interested in woodland music so he paused with a sandwich halfway to his mouth listened and watched for the songster The note was one that he had never heard before In a few moments a slate gray dumpy bird about tin size of a robin with a short curved beak and an upright wrenlike tail alighted on a boulder in the stream not far from where lit sat The bird was tlu American dipper or water ouzel ouzelNow Now the man had read of the e pilslto song of this bird but had ever before heard it The little fellow threw up his head poured forth his liipiid clear tinkling note the very spirit of the wild He was presently joined by his mate and the two sat upon the rock and watched the man They were quite tame and they came to pick up the crumbs tossed to them A few rods below the stream ran about the foot of a bassalt cliff Tin female dashed across the stream alighted on a shelf of rock and entered a tuft of moss that hung just above the water so near that the spray dashed over it In a short time she reappeared apparently satisfied that the man had not molested her domi ¬ cile and joined her mate Ity looking closely he could see a round opening among the moss mossHe He waded across the stream on a voyage of dis ¬ covery The tuft of moss was a nest so cunningly devised and so adroitly hidden that it was well nigh invisible Four milk white eggs reposed on a soft damp Ixd The pair made much ado about the mans intrusion but he left them in peace peaceHABITS HABITS AND BEAUTY OF AMERICAN DIPPER DIPPERThe The American dipper is one of the most inter ¬ esting and peculiar of all our native birds The bird is shy ami retiring It frequents the swift mountain streams of the Kocky Mountain region and never approaches human habitations Only the angler who penetrates the unsettled mountain regions is familiar with these birds and he knows of them only as he hears their noisy clatter as they flit from rock to rock rockAlthough Although the dipper has no web feet it is an expert swimmer or rather flier beneath the water for it seems to make use of its wings to move about in that element No matter how swift the current the little chap tumbles in pellmell and scrambles si bout on the bottom in search if food One day this man surprised a halfgrown dipper sitting on a rock in midstream where the water poured down in a torrent He promptly plunged in and tin man lost sight of him He watched downstream expect ¬ ing to see the bird come to the surface tossed about like a chip but he did nothing of the sort sortAfter After several minutes the man occupied the rock he had vacated and prepared to cast his flies into the foot of a considerable fall Sitting demurely on si narrow shelf of rock was his bird How he man ¬ aged to make his way there against the rushing water was a mystery lie seemed so much at home in the water than the man decided to try an ex ¬ periment He chased the bird from his perch and into Ihe water he went In a few seconds the little creature was seen lieinath tin fall making his way across the stream He came out on the opposite side and scolded the man for his impertinence impertinenceIt It is iiile common to see these birds in winter when the streams sire partially frozen feeding be ¬ neath Ihe ice They creep silong the liottom picking up insects stud are plainly visible through the clear ice and water waterIn In scientific classification the dipper occupies a position midway between the wrens and the thrushes and his name comes from his peculiar habit of bowing or dipping gracefully when he meets you He has another most amusing habit that of winking in a roguish manner
