BLACK-AND-WHITE BIRDS. 21 



DIPPER.— Plate 10. Length, 7 inches. Upper 

 parts dark brown ; grayer on the back ; throat and 

 chest white ; breast chestnut-brown ; belly and flanks 

 grayish-black ; bill dark brown ; legs and feet blackish- 

 brown. Resident. 



Eggs. — 4-6, plain white, dull; I'O ^ '75 inch 

 (plate 122). 



Nest. — A large ball of grass, moss, and leaves, 

 with a hole in the side, and lined with dead leaves ; 

 placed in a cavity near a waterfall, under the bridge 

 of a stream or in the bank, sometimes on a branch 

 over water. 



Distribution. — General where mountain streams 

 occur, descending to lowland water-courses and the 

 seashore in winter. 



Upon general inspection the Dipper, or ' Water- 

 Ouzel,' will appear to be black and white, the chestnut 

 of the breast easily escaping notice. In its form the 

 Dipper is a remarkably close copy of the Common 

 Wren. Although four times as bulky as the latter 

 bird, and differing from it in its highly contrasted 

 markings, there is the same compactness of figure, 

 the same stumpy, often elevated tail, and the same 

 short wings, whirring as they beat quickly in low 

 flight. Its song, brilliant and vigorous, and to be 

 heard even in autumn and winter, also recalls that of 

 the Wren ; and its nest, like the Wren's, is globular, 

 with the opening at the side. Both birds are ex- 

 clusively insectivorous. Because there is more than 

 ordinary agreement between the two birds in the 



