206 



HAPDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[Sept. I, I860. 



THE "DIPPER." 



IN the hope of ending the controversy respecting 

 this bird, at least as far as we are concerned, 

 the following is extracted from a paper read some 

 time since by Dr. J. E. Kinahan before the Dublin 

 Natural History Society : — 



" During the years 1849 and 1850, having nearly 

 daily occasion to frequent that part of the river 

 Dodder which passes through the romantic moun- 

 tain glens of Glemismaul and Castlekelly, the great 

 abundance of the water ouzel, or, as the peasantry 

 there call it, kingfisher, induced me to study its 

 habits somewhat particularly. 



" The general habits of the water ouzel have been 

 so well and so often described that they need not 

 detain us ; but although it is now some years since 

 M. Herbert announced the fact that this bird is 

 possessed of the power of walking under water on 

 the bottom of streams ; and although the truth of 

 this observation has been strengthened by the evi- 

 dence of such men as St. John, Dilwyn, Pennie, 

 William Thompson, and M'Gillivray, yet still there 

 are found many (especially among the closet natu- 

 ralists) who prefer to ignore the fact altogether, or 

 else assert that this bird's habits in this respect are 

 identical with those of other divers. 



" My observations, made repeatedly during many 

 months, and having for their object the elucidation 

 of this very point, enable me to corroborate M. 

 Herbert's account in every particular, except that 

 the bird carries down a supply of air to the bottom 

 enclosed within its wings, in which he most certainly 

 is in error, led away by a fancied analogy between 

 the bird and diving beetles, as I have repeatedly 

 seen them rise to the surface to obtain air, which 

 they do exactly like a grebe, merely raising the tip 

 of the bill out of the w T ater. 



"The bird has several modes of diving. When 

 seeking food, it generally goes down, like "most 

 divers, head foremost in an oblique direction, or 

 else walks deliberately in from the shallow edge of 

 the pool, the head bent down, and the knees (tarsal 

 articulation) crouched. When seeking refuge, how- 

 ever, it sometimes sinks like a stone, exactly as the 

 Great Northern Diver (C. glacictlis) has been observed 

 to do— that is, gradually, the top of the head the 

 last part submerged, without any apparent exertion, 

 sometimes in the midst of its most rapid flight 

 dropping down suddenly into the water like a 

 plummet. Its course is indifferently with or across 

 the stream, rarely against it. 



" It often remains under water totally submerged 

 for fifty seconds and upwards, and during that time 

 will proceed from ten to twenty yards. When it 

 comes out, the water may be seen running rapidly 

 off its plumage. It swims with great rapidity, and 

 appears to rejoice in the water as its true element, 



hardly ever alighting directly on a rock, but even 

 after its longest flight splashing slap into the water, 

 at the base of the stone selected as a resting-place, 

 and then scrambling to the summit of this. In its 

 motion in the water it more closely resembles the 

 Jackass Penguin of Cape Horn {Apt. chrysocoma) 

 than any other aquatic bird I have had an oppor- 

 tunity of studying. Like that bird (especially in 

 the breeding season), the ouzels may be seen at 

 times leaping right out of the water 'in their 

 gambols. 



" That the bird actually does possess the power 

 of motion under water, the following notes on a 

 wounded bird, made on the spot, abundantly 



prove : — 



" ' Nov. 29, 1850.— Bohernabreena. Wounded a 

 water ouzel, which, as I observed them all to do, 

 immediately made for shore. On my going to seize 

 him, he darted into the water, running slap in ; 

 waded in after him; under water he looks quite 

 glossy, but does not seem increased in bulk, the 

 glossiness probably arising from the oiled state of 

 the plumage, or else from its peculiar texture. 

 When I first got up with the bird he was perfectly 

 stationary at the bottom, not using any exertion to 

 remain there (this remark applies to two other 

 birds wounded later in the day, which also took to 

 the water). The bird next got under a big stone, 

 and when I poked him out on one side he ran to the 

 other — after the lapse of a minute or so he put his 

 head out of the water to breathe, always keeping 

 the stone between him and me, and when I tried to 

 catch him he would dodge under the water again, 

 and come up on the other side. 



" ' Finding that I was still chasing him, he took 

 to the stream, and went under water faster than I 

 could follow him ; he seemed to move now altogether 

 by means of his feet, his wings hanging down 

 behind his tail, though his motions were so quick i J ; 

 was difficult to be positive as to the latter part of 

 this observation. At times he swam in mid-water, 

 using his wings, crossing the current several times, 

 and seeming but little incommoded by it. 



" ' All at once he turned over on his back— still 

 possessing the power of continuing under water- 

 struggling to regain his original position, he spun 

 round and round ; it appeared as though the 

 wounded wing had suddenly failed him, and thus 

 prevented his preserving a~due equilibrium in the 

 water. At length he came to the top, when he 

 immediately righted and swam as at other times ; 

 every time I tried to lay hold on him he again 

 ducked and dived down to the bottom, at first all 

 right, and then the tumbling began again. When 

 captured at length, I found him merely winged.' 

 I was enabled to confirm these observations several 

 times that day, as I obtained seven specimens, five 

 of which necessitated a watery chase before I 

 succeeded in catching them, and one got clear off." 



