EUROPKAN DIPPER. 55 



plunges like an Auk or a Guillemot, slightly opening its wings, 

 and disappearing with an agility and a dexterity that indicate 

 its proficiency in diving. I have seen it moving under water 

 in situations where I could observe it with certainty, and I 

 readily perceived that its actions were precisely similar to those 

 of the Divers, Mergansers, and Cormorants, which I have often 

 watched from an eminence as they pursued the shoals of sand- 

 eels along the sandy shores of the Hebrides. It, in fact, flew, 

 not merely using the wing from the carpal joint, but stretching 

 it considerably, and employing its whole extent, just as if ad- 

 vancing in the air. The general direction of the body in these 

 circumstances is obliquely downwards ; and great force is evi- 

 dently used to counteract the effects of gravity, the bird find- 

 ing it difficult to keep itself at the bottom, and when it relaxes 

 its efforts, coming to the surface like a cork. Montagu has 

 well described thg appearance which it presents under such 

 circumstances : — " In one or two instances, where we have 

 been able to perceive it under water, it appeared to tumble 

 about in a very extraordinary manner, with its head down- 

 wards, as if picking something ; and at the same time great 

 exertion was used, both by the wings and legs." This tumbling, 

 however, is observed only when it is engaged in a strong cur- 

 rent, and its aj^pearance is greatly magnified by the unequal 

 refraction caused by the varying inequalities of the surface of 

 the water. When searching for food, it does not proceed to 

 great distances under water ; but, alighting on some spot, sinks, 

 and soon reappears in the immediate neighbourhood, when it 

 either dives again, or rises on wing to drop somew'here else on 

 the stream, or settle on a stone. Often from a shelving crag, 

 or large stone, it may be seen making short incursions into the 

 water, running out with quiet activity, and presently bobbing 

 up to the surface, and regaining its perch by swimming or 

 wading. The assertion of its walking in the water, on the bot- 

 tom, which some persons have ventured, is not made good by 

 observation, nor countenanced by reason and the nature of 

 things. The Dipper is by no means a walking bird : even on 

 land I have never seen it move more than a few steps, which 

 it accomplished by a kind of lenping motion. Its short legs 



