COMMON DIPPER. 73 



One of tliem had a small bull-head (Gottus gohio) in its 

 throat, which the bird had doubtless taken from under 

 a stone. I suspect that insects and their larvse, with 

 small shelled mollusks, constitute their principle food, 

 and it may be that their labours in this way are rather 

 beneficial than otherwise ; for as many aquatic insects 

 will attack the ova and fry, their destruction must be an 

 advantage." Lastly, Mr. Buckland, whose experiments 

 in, and writings upon, the art of pisciculture, are so 

 well known to the readers of the " Field," remarks in a 

 letter to the "Times" (April 4th, 1863)—" It may be 

 observed that I do not mention the water ouzel as 

 destructive to spawn — ^this advisedly, as of late I have 

 carefidly examined the gizzards of several of these 

 beautiftd little birds, and have found only the remains of 

 water insects in them; vsrite the water ouzel, the friend 

 and not the enemy of the fish spawn." With such wit- 

 nesses to character, we may, I think, consider the 

 charges made against this most interesting bird as 

 wholly unfounded, whilst the experience obtained of 

 late years, through the rearing of salmon and trout, 

 as to the best means of protecting both spawn and fry, 

 ought to lead to the suppression of tame swans 

 on our shallow waters, as the worst enemies of the 

 ^'^ Anglers' Society." The only occasion in which I 

 have had the pleasure of seeing this bird in a wild 

 state, and that in a locality in which I should have 

 least expected to find it, was at Torquay, in Devonshire, 

 in the spring of 1859. Here a single dipper frequented 

 a quiet little rock girt bay, called the " bathing cove," 

 where it flitted from one range of rocks to the other, 

 flying low over the waves as they broke on the shingly 

 beach, or perched now and then on the huge stones 

 that form the breakwater jutting out into the sea. I had 

 not expected to find the water ouzel as in this instance 

 frequenting the very sea-side itself, but it certainly 



