72 MERULTD^. 



are peculiar ; a jerking upwards of the tail and dippin,^^ 

 forward of tlie head remind us of the Wren, a bird witli 

 which he has, however, nothing really in common. Orni- 

 thologists place him between the Flycatchers and Thrushes. 

 Water Thrush is one of his names ; but he is better known 

 by the names, Dipper and Water Ouzel. Though neither 

 furnished with web-feet like the Ducks, nor with long 

 legs like the Waders, the Dipper is decidedly an aquatic 

 bird, for he is never seen at any distance from a stream 

 or mountain tarn ; in his habits he resembles no other 

 of his tribe — a water bird with a song — a song bird that 

 wades, and swims, and dives. That he should be so far 

 only singular in his habits is not enough. Although he 

 is a wader and diver, he wades and dives differently from 

 other birds ; but the precise method of his subaqueous 

 feats is a disputed point. Some observers maintain that 

 the Dipper actually walks under water, setting his feet on 

 the bottom as other birds do on the ground ; that he 

 leisurely perambulates the bed of the river, examining the 

 pebbles, feeding on molluscs and the larvae of insects, and 

 that, while thus occupied, his body is studded with bubbles 

 of air lil^e so many pearls. Others maintain that the bird 

 employs no other organ of locomotion beneath the water 

 than its wings, and that it flies after the manner of the 

 Grebes. Another controverted point in the habits of the 

 same bird is, whether or not it feeds on the spawn of 

 the trout and salmon. In the Highlands it is generally 

 accused of committing great depredations in this way, and 

 is consequently shot by gamekeepers whenever observed. 

 Mr. St. John is of opinion that it does commit great havoc 

 among the spawn, "uncovering the eggs, and leaving what 

 it does not eat open to the attack of eels and other fish, or 

 liable to bo washed aAvay by the current." Mr. Macgillivray, 

 on the contrary, states that he has dissected a great number 

 of individuals at all seasons of the year, and has found no 

 other substances in their stomachs but insects and molluscs ; 



