959 BRITISH BIRDS. 
Genus CINCLUS. 
The genus Cinclus was established by Bechstein, in 1802, in his ‘ Orni- 
thologische Taschenbuch,’ i. p. 206. As C. aquaticus, or one of its numerous 
local though unnamed races, was the only species with which Bechstein 
was acquainted, it becomes of necessity the type of his genus. It contains 
the Dippers, which may be distinguished from the true Thrushes by their 
short concave wings fitting tightly to the body, and their dense plumage, 
adapted to their aquatic habits. 
The Dippers, of which about a dozen species are known, extend over the 
entire Palzearctic Region wherever mountain-streams occur; but in the 
Indian Region they are apparently confined to the Western Himalayas and 
the mountains of China and Formosa. In the Nearctic Region they are 
found throughout the Rocky Mountains, in the same chain through Central 
America into the Neotropical Region, where they are found in the Andes 
of Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. One species is resident in the British 
Islands. 
Ornithologists differ in opinion as to the affinities of the Dippers. 
Brisson was hopelessly wrong in placing them amongst the Sandpipers; and 
Linveus was probably mistaken in considering them to be Starlings. I 
think Latham was not far wrong in including them amongst the Thrushes, 
though Sharpe appears to think otherwise and has placed them with the 
Wrens. The Dippers are probably most nearly allied to the subgeneric 
group of Ground-Thrushes known as Zoothere. Most of the species, how- 
ever, have lost the Geocichline pattern on the wing; but the American 
species still retain it, although in a somewhat rudimentary condition. They 
are aquatic in their habits, frequenting mountain-streams and obtaining 
most of their food from the waters. Their food consists of aquatic insects, 
ova of fishes, and Mollusca. They are fair songsters. They build bulky 
nests, domed, and made of moss, dry grass, leaves, &c., placing them under 
banks, amongst rocks, or between the roots of trees. Their eggs, from 
four to six or seven in number, are, so far as is known, pure white. 
