i68 Northern Observations of Inland Birds 



passing, this pursuit is backed with the utmost energy. 

 They may follow the trespasser a hundred yards or more, 

 both screaming shrilly, and performing flashing banks 

 and manoeuvres, till, at a given point, the pursuer turns 

 leisurely homewards — often to be attacked by another 

 neighbour, possibly the first offender's wife. Thus, 

 during the early part of the nesting season, when the 

 male birds are on sentry go, their pursuits of one another 

 backed by their shrill notes are familiar scenes and 

 sounds to all who know the stream and its inhabitants. 



Though unknown on many English rivers, it cannot 

 be said that the dipper population is unevenly distributed. 

 In Scotland and the North of England it is one of the best 

 known of waterside birds, and anywhere that clear 

 running water exists, it seems to be entirely at home. 

 I have found them living at great altitudes the year through 

 — managing to wring a living from some tiny stream, 

 very often fouled with moss-water owing to its great 

 height, and so high up, indeed, that the rattle-like croak 

 of the ptarmigan is practically the only familiar sound 

 amidst their mist-ridden surroundings. Yet here, as 

 elsewhere, the dipper is the same merry little soul that 

 we know by the sunnier waters where beech and oak 

 vie with one another along the slopes. 



It was only comparatively recently that man realized 

 anything at all of what Nature has practiced for countless 

 ages in the art of camouflage. The nature books tell us 

 that the dipper is best known '* by his conspicuous 

 white front." Conspicuous } No. Could anything be 

 less conspicuous ? A dipper, seated amidst his natural 

 surroundings, is almost or completely invisible owing to 

 that white front of his. If one sees the front at all, one 

 sees nothing but the front. The rest of the bird is invisible 

 against the dark background. If he is against a white 

 background, one sees only his dark markings, and the 



