THE DIPPER 89 



hood of the oJd home ; and the parents, though 

 seldom afterwards seen feeding together, remain, 

 till the pairing season comes round once m_ore, in 

 friendly possession of the reaches which served 

 them with food for their young. Seemingly, 

 their lines of flight reach farther on tributary 

 brooks than on broad, quick-running rivers 

 adjoining, where between the salmon -pools the 

 water is shallow over the gravelly fords. 



The dipper has been accused of preying on the 

 spawn and the fry of salmon and trout, and con- 

 sequently in a few districts has been unceasingly 

 persecuted. There are undoubtedly some grounds 

 for the accusation ; the bird, finding an egg or a 

 recently hatched fish beneath a pebble, would 

 hardly disdain such a tempting morsel. The 

 persecution, nevertheless, is altogether unreason- 

 able, since the bird amply atones for his misdeeds. 

 On our western streams he subsists chiefly on 

 water-worms, leeches, and the caddises and the 

 " creepers " of the stone-fly. No injury is done 

 to the angler by robbing the trout of " bottom " 

 food, because at all times, except in winter, 

 '' surface " food is abundant. On the contrary, 

 the course thus pursued by the dipper is really 

 productive of good ; the trout in these localities, 

 while they do not afford such sport with the 

 artificial fly as on streams where " bottom " food 

 is scarce, are occasionally induced through the 



