THE DIPPER. 59 



quite as much at home in the water as the Divers them- 

 selves, and as active on the land as any of the Thrushes : 

 but more of this anon. Then, too, throughout the keenest 

 weather he quits not the waters of the roaring stream, 

 and is as active amongst the icicle-draped rocks as when 

 the summer sun was scorching them with its meridian 

 rays. The Plovers quit their upland haunts, now frozen 

 hard as iron, and the Ring Ousel has long ago retired to 

 more genial climes ; but still the Dipper lingers, and 

 experiences no inconvenience by doing so. The very 

 fact of the stream being ever in troubled motion is the 

 cause of his perpetual residence on its banks ; for the 

 frost never binds its waters in its tight embrace, and they 

 being always open, his food is always there, and he has no 

 cause to wander. He is a bird full of activity, flying in 

 a shooting course before us ; now alighting on the grassy 

 banks, and then on the rocky boulders, round which the 

 foam -crested waters dash and boil in seemingly ex- 

 hausted rage. He sometimes is flushed with difficulty, and 

 then flies so slowly as to appear wounded ; but should 

 you be tempted by his seeming helplessness to pursue 

 him, he takes good care to evade you, advancing in short 

 flights, it is true ; but, ever wary, he takes wing the 

 moment you think you have him secure, and departs 

 still further up the stream, appearing to exult in your 

 mortification. The Dipper is a solitary bird, and, save in 

 the breeding season, is rarely found even in the company 

 of its own species. Each bird seems to haunt a certain 

 part of the stream, to which it strictly keeps, and is 

 seldom or never seen to associate with other birds. The 

 Dipper seldom strays far from the waters, for they aflbrd 

 him all he requires, nor does he frequent the trees and 

 shrubs. The waters and their banks supply him with 



