22 BLACK-AND-WHITE BIRDS. 



respects mentioned, it is the stranger that there 

 should exist even more extraordinary divergence in 

 other respects. The smaller bird searches the chinks 

 and crevices of the thicket for its insect-food ; the 

 larger, albeit equally formed for perching, dives 

 into tlie mountain stream, and, propelling itself by 

 a fin-like use of its wings, seeks a similar insect 

 diet in the chinks and crevices of its stone-covered 

 bed. Perched on a boulder, watching the moving 

 water, the Dipper suggests the immobile Kingfishei- 

 rather than the restless Wren ; the rapid flight along- 

 stream also recalls the Kingfisher. But when the 

 bird walks into or sinks beneath the water, advancing 

 in jerks along or close to the bottom, and rising at 

 times for a breathing-space to the surface before con- 

 tinuing its search, it has no parallel — it is the Dipper, 

 unique as a diving insect-huiiter among British 

 'perching birds. 



RING-OUZEL— 10 incites ; a bird of tlie hills, Lut not 

 necessarily of the hill streams; black, and like a Black- 

 bird in form, Avith conspicuously long tail, but white 

 gorget. 



KINGFISHER — 7| inches ; although a stream-haunter and 

 diver, and resenil)ling the Dipper in its thick-set form, 

 its upper plumage is of a blazing blue, and the bill 

 extremely large. 



PIED WAGTAIL.— Plate 11. Length, 7i inches, 

 of which the tail alone measures half. Crown, collar, 

 back, and tail black, but outermost feathers of the tail 

 conspicuously white ; wings black, but some of the 

 leathers edged with white ; forehead, sides of face. 



