THE DIPPER 137 



The Dipper cannot be said to rank very high as a 

 soncrster ; still it is a favourite one with all persons 

 whose business or pleasure takes them into its 

 haunts. It is another of those songs whose beauty- 

 is increased by associations and surroundings. It 

 is short though pleasing, uttered in a low strain, 

 often lost or only caught at intervals above the 

 noise of the purling stream. We have often 

 noticed the Dipper standing on a rock in mid- 

 stream warbling cheerily at intervals ; whether the 

 bird ever sings from the trees by the stream we 

 are unable to say. The Dipper continues in song 

 through April and May ; in June there is a marked 

 falling off, and by the time the young of the second 

 brood are abroad the bird is for the most part 

 mute. 



It is most probable that the Dipper pairs for 

 life, for it resorts regularly to certain spots to 

 breed season after season. The nest is seldom, 

 if ever, made at any great distance from the stream, 

 and often placed so close to the water as to be 

 kept moist by the falling spray. It is usually 

 placed in a crevice of the rocks, often under an 

 overhanging shelf or slab of rock, in the masonry 

 of a sluice or weir, under a bridge, amongst the 

 exposed roots of a tree, or more rarely in a niche 

 of the rocks behind a waterfall. It is a large and 

 beautiful structure, similar to that of the Wren, 

 globular, with a hole in the side for entrance. 



