Society for the Protection of Birds. 
EDUCATIONAL SERIES. Edited by H. E. DRESSER, F.L.S., F.Z.S. 
Oooo 
No. 7.—DIPPERS. 
by WV. 1  MELEERSH, “BAY 
Member of the Cotteswold Nat. Field Club. 
s 
7 
DIPPER. _ 
I. Name.—DIPPER. 
Family-—Cinclide. 
Genus—Cinclus. 1. Cinclus aquaticus. The Dipper. 
2. Cinclus melanogasta. The Black-bellied Dipper. 
Other names: “ Water-Ouzel” (because once thought to belong to the Ouzel, i.e., the 
Thrush Family), “ Water Colly” (in and from Somerset, westward), “ Water Crow,” and 
“Water Pyet” (in Scotland). 
II. General Description. 
Dipper.—Colour above, dark grey and black, head and nape amber brown, throat and 
upper breast white, lower breast dull red, passing into black and slatish brown on the 
rest of the under parts. Length, 6? inches ; wing, 32 inches. A darker form seems to 
appear on higher ground; e.g., im Derbyshire, birds found at a height of 1500 feet 
are darker than those at 500 feet only. This form, still much darker, is the sub- 
species next described. 
Black-bellied Dipper.—Same as the above, except that the dull red is replaced by dark 
brown or black, and the bird is a trifle larger. 
ITI. Where, when, and in what numbers found. 
1. Tue Diprer.—A resident in the counties south of the Bristol Channel, in Wales and 
Derbyshire, and thence northward to Scotland and in Ireland. Very rare in the East of 
England ; found chiefly as an occasional visitor to other counties, though breeding in a few 
suitable localities. 
Illustration by Joseph Wolf, from “ British Birds in their Haunts.” By kind permission of 
the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. 
