TURDID^ — CINCLIN^ : DIPPERS. 



255 



shorter than head, slender and compressed throughout, higher than broad at the nostrils, about 

 straight, but seeming to be sliglitly recurved, owing to a sort of upward tilting of the superior 

 mandible; culmen at first slightly concave, then convex; commissure slightly sinuous, to cor- 

 respond with the culmen, notched near the end; gonys convex. Nostrils linear, opening 

 beneath a large scale partly covered with feathers. No rictal vibrissae, nor any trace of bristles 

 or bristle-tipped feathers about the nostrils. Plumage soft, lustreless, remarkably full and 

 compact, water-proof. Body stout, thick-set. Habits aquatic. A small but remarkable 

 group, in which the characters shared by the Turdince, Saxicolince, and Si/lviince are modified 

 in adaptation to the singular aquatic life the species lead. There is only one genus, with 

 about 12 species, inhabiting clear mountain streams of most parts of the world, chieHy the 

 Northern Hemisphere ; easily flying under water, and spending much of then- time in that 

 element, where their food, of various aquatic animal substances, is gleaned. 

 CIN'CLUS. (Gr. KiyKXos, Idghlos, Lat. cinclus, a kind of bird. Figs. 114, 127, 128.) Dip- 

 pers. Characters those of the subfamily, as above given. 



Fig. 128. — American Dipper, nat. size. (Ad nat. del. E. C. ) 



C. mexica'nus. (Lat. mexicanus, Mexican. Fig. 128.) American Dipper, or Water 

 Ouzel. $ 9 , adult, in summer : Slaty- plumbeous, paler below, inclining on the head to 

 sooty-brown. Quills and tail-feathers fuscous. Eyelids usually white. Bill black ; feet 

 yellowish. Length 0.00-7-00 ; extent 10.00-11.00 ; wing 3.50-4.00 ; tail about 2.25 ; bill 0.60 ; 

 tarsus 1.12; middle toe and claw rather less. Individuals vary much in size. (J 9 , in 

 winter, and most immature specimens, are still paler below, all the feathers of the under parts 

 being skuted with whitish. The quills of the wing are also tipped with white. The bill is 

 yellowish at the base. Young : Below, whitish, more or less so according to age, frequently 

 tinged with pale cinnamon-brown ; whole under parts sometimes overlaid with the whitisli ends 

 of the feathers, shaded with rufous posteriorly; throat usually nearly white ; bill mo.stly yellow ; 

 white tipping of the wing-feathers" at a maximum; in some cases the tail-feathers shnilarly 

 marked. Mountains of Western N. A., from Alaska to Mexico; a sprightly and (ingagina resi- 

 dent of clear mountain streams, usually observed flitting among the rocks; has a fine song. 

 Nest a pretty ball of green moss lined with grasses, with a hole at the side, hidden in the rift 

 of a rock, or other nook close to the water: eggs about 5, 1.0 !• X 0.70, pure white, unmarked. 



