FASSERES. ( 85 ) CINCLID^. 



THE DIPPER. 



WATER OUZEL, WATER CROW, WATER PIET, KINGFISHER. 



Cinclus aquaticus. 

 %%z OHaitec^ Crato. 



The Finch no more on pointed thirties feeds, 

 Pecks the red leaves or crops the swelling seeds ; 

 But Water Crows by cold brook margins play, 

 Lave their dark plumage in the freezing spray, 

 And, wanton, as from storu to stone they glide. 

 Dive at their beckoning forms beneath the tide. 



Leyden, Scenes of Infancy. 



The Dipper is fouud on all our rapid streams and burns, to 

 whose beauty it gives an additional charm at every season, 

 but more especially during that delightful period of the 

 year when the angler, with his rod and basket, wanders 



By shallow rivers, to whose falls 

 Melodious birds sing madrigals. 



Maklow. 



It may be then often seen sitting on a stone by the side or 

 in the middle of the stream, bobbing its head, and jerking 

 its tail up and down at intervals,^ and displaying its beauti- 

 ful white breast to great advantage. On being approached 

 it flies off hurriedly along the course of the river, near the 

 surface of the water, with rapid flight and quickly moving 

 wings ; generally uttering its usual note, which resembles the 



1 In Anglo-Saxon water is xooeter. —Mr. Hardy's MS. Notes. 



2 This habit of bobbing up and down is alluded to by James Hogg when he 

 says : " The factor's naig wantit a fore-tit shoe, an' was beckin like a Water Craw. " 

 — Dr. Johnston's MS. Notes. 



