23 THE DIPPER 
you might hear his song, a low melodious strain, which he often 
carries far on into the winter. His movements while he is thus 
perched are peculiar; a jerking upwards of the tail and dipping 
forward of the head remind us of the Wren, a bird with which he 
has, however, nothing really in common. Water Thrush is one 
of his names; but he is better known by the names, Dip 
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. 
That he should be so far only singular in his habits is not enough. 
Although he is a wader he wades differently from other birds ; and he 
uses his wings like oars. The Dipper uses both legs and wings in 
search of prey, examining the pebbles, feeding on molluscs and the 
larve of insects. Mr. St. John is of opinion that it commits 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 be 
washed away 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; he is therefore of opinion that 
the charge of destroying the spawn of fish isunfounded. The latter 
opinion obtains now. 
I might greatly extend my sketch of this interesting bird, but 
I have space only to add, that it builds a compact nest of moss, 
felted so as to be impervious to water, and lined with dead leaves, 
under a bank overhanging a stream, in the hole of a wall near a 
mill-dam, or between two rocks under a cascade, but always in 
such a situation that both old and young birds can throw themselves 
into the water immediately on being alarmed. I have read of one 
instance in which a nest was built under a waterfall in such a posi- 
tion, that the bird could not go to and fro without penetrating every 
time a vertical sheet of water. The nest is domed, and can be 
entered only by a small hole in front. It contains usually five or 
six whitish eggs, somewhat smaller than those of the Thrush, 
