AJ'£S. SI 



in the air for a few seconds as it rapidly repeats its single note, 'J>i/i/c 

 pink,' and then drop perpendicularly again. Its nest is fixed among grass 

 stems after the fashion of a Reed Warbler. 



The Fantail has a wide range. It is common in all the countries 

 bordering on the Mediterranean ; through the whole of Africa to the 

 Cape ; and in Asia resides in India, Ceylon, China, and Japan. Many of 

 the Fantails of the eastern islands seem scarcely separable from it specifi- 

 cally. 



FAMILY, CINCLID.-E. 



70. Cinclus rufivcntris. Hemp, and Ehrenb. Symb. Phys., fol. bb. 

 Ruddy-bellied Dipper. 



This Dipper is confined e.xclusively to the mountain streams in the 

 deep gorges of the Litany river and of the Lebanon. It is particularly 

 numerous about the magnificent springs of Afka, the ancient Adonis. It 

 differs slightly from our Dipper. The white extends lower down the 

 breast, the abdomen is of a lighter chestnut colour, and the back of the 

 head and the shoulders have a rather rufous tint. I have therefore ven- 

 tured to distinguish it specifically by the name which Ehrenberg gave it 

 only as a variety. There is, perhaps, in reality only one true species of 

 White-breasted Dipper, but as authors have made many species on no 

 stronger grounds, I conceive that the Lebanon bird is equally entitled 

 to specific rank, for it corresponds exactly with no other. The birds 

 from Scandinavia, Switzerland, and Spain have been distinguished from 

 peculiarities as trifling. Mr. Dresser groups the Lebanon form with that 

 from Spain, which is decidedly a darker bird, and more like the Scandi- 

 navian form, while Mr. Sharpe unites it with C. cashmeriensis, but admits 

 that it is a peculiar form, with more of a brownish red shade on the breast, 

 which allies it somewhat to the C. aquaticus (the English bird) group. I 

 cannot find that any Dipper has been found nearer Palestine than Greece, 

 where C. albicollis is stated to occur : and Erzeroum, where the species is 

 stated to be C. viclanogaster. 



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