DIPPER 105 



many of the habits of the grebes and the ducks, for it is an expert diver 

 and a good swimmer. Its feet are not webbed, of course, but its legs 

 and toes are long, and its flexor muscles are very strong, enabling it 

 to hold firmly to the rocks and stones against a strong current, to climb 

 over the slippery rocks, or to swim fast enough for its purposes. The 

 water ouzel is also well equipped otherwise for aquatic life, as pointed 

 out by Grinnell and Storer (1924) : 



The covering of feathers on the body is thicker and denser than in either the 

 thrushes or wrens, to which the dipper is closely related. Also, the ends of the 

 feathers are somewhat more loosely formed, as in many of the true water birds, 

 and this seems to help in keeping the plumage from soaking up water. Each nos- 

 tril is covered by a movable scale, obviously to exclude water when need be. The 

 oil gland at the upper base of the tail is about ten times as large in the dipper as 

 in related land-dwelling birds of equivalent size, and the bird makes frequent 

 use of the product of the gland to dress its feathers. The stout but tapered form 

 of the body, the short tail, the short rounded wings, and the stout legs and feet 

 all would seem to be of advantage to a bird living along and in swiftly moving 

 waters. 



The flight of the ouzel cannot be better described than in the follow- 

 ing quotations from Miiir's (1894) charming account: 



The Ouzel, born on the brink of the stream, or on a snag or boulder in the midst 

 of it, seldom leaves it for a single moment. For, notwithstanding he is often on 

 the wing, he never flies overland, but whirs with rapid, quail-like beat above the 

 stream, tracing all its windings. Even when the stream is quite small, say from 

 5 to 10 feet wide, he seldom shortens his flight by crossing a bend, however abrupt 

 it may be ; and even when disturbed by meeting some one on the bank, he prefers 

 to fly over one's head, to dodging out over the ground. * * * 



The vertical curves and angles of the most precipitous torrents he traces with 

 the same rigid fidelity, swooping down the inclines of the cascades, dropping sheer 

 over dizzy falls amid the spray, and ascending with the same fearlessness and 

 ease, seldom seeking to lessen the steepness of the acclivity by beginning to ascend 

 before reaching the base of the fall. No matter though it may be several hundred 

 feet in height he holds straight on, as if about to dash headlong into the throng 

 of booming rockets, then darts abruptly upward, and, after alighting at the top 

 of the precipice to rest a moment, proceeds to feed and sing. His flight is solid 

 and impetuous, without any intermission of wing-beats, — one homogeneous buzz 

 like that of a laden bee on its way home. 



Mr. Skinner's (1922) account of its flight is only slightly different: 

 "Only once have I seen one away from water and then he was flying 

 over the quarter mile stretch between two streams. * * * Xhe 

 flight is direct and the wing beats are very rapid for 100 feet, then 

 the Dipper coasts along 10 feet with the acquired momentum before 

 taking up its wing strokes again. * * * ^ bird will come flying 

 down one stream, turn an acute angle at the mouth of a second stream, 

 and then go buzzing merrily up it after flying three times as far rather 

 than cross the neck of land between the two streams." 



Dippers are solitary birds and are usually seen singly, rarely in 

 pairs, except during the breeding season, and very rarely as many as 



