56 THE ANGLER’S FRIEND. 
black. The legs are somewhat short, but very 
strong; the claws considerably curved, to pre- 
vent slipping. 
Of most hermit-like and exclusive habits, the 
dipper loves to linger amidst the wildest soli- 
tudes of Nature, frequenting streams that push 
their headlong way through mountain-glens, or 
wind in tortuous course over the heather-clad 
moorland. It may, too, occasionally be seen 
briefly resting on the dripping spokes of the 
wheel when the mill stops, its low plaintive 
warble faintly heard above the splash of the 
water. 
Every angler must be familiar with the dip- 
per’s song, always a welcome strain—not loud, 
but exquisitely sweet and melodious. Except 
during the breeding season, it rarely happens 
that two are seen together; they pair very early, 
and, before the ice is gone from the streams and 
pools, in the month of February, their nuptial 
choruses (as they fidget about, perched on a 
boulder, dead log, or projecting rock, bobbing 
their heads, or dipping) herald the coming 
spring. In the selection of their nesting-place 
they exhibit great diversity of taste. It may be 
placed in the cleft of a rock, in a ruined wall, 
among a mass of tangled roots, under a bridge, 
