RURAL BIRD LIFE, 



see him at first perched on a stone projecting out of the 

 water a few inches, or it may be standing in the water 

 itself. Warily he looks around, now crouching low, as if 

 fearful of discovery ; now erect, as if on the point of 

 taking wing. Now he fearlessly enters the water, and 

 aided by his wings floats buoyantly to land, where you 

 see him running and hopping about, picking up the small 

 animal substances found amongst the marshy shores of 

 the stream. Then he will sit for a few moments on the 

 bank, motionless as a statue, and you cannot help ad- 

 miring the purity of his plumage, white as the driven 

 snow. Suddenly, and doubtless to your surprise, if you 

 are unacquainted with his habits, he takes to the water 

 and disappears under the surface. Is he in distress ? 

 mayhap drowning 1 Neither one nor the other. Aided 

 by his wings and feet you see him explore the sand and 

 mossgrown pebbles at the bottom of the pool, and turn- 

 ing the little stones with his bill, for the various water 

 insects which constitute his food ; perhaps going a yard 

 or more, and then rising to the surface for breath ; then 

 down again for another short distance, then rising as 

 before. He will proceed thus for a certain length of the 

 water, then return — sometimes swimming aided by his 

 wings, and sometimes darting under the surface, oc- 

 casionally pausing to rest for a moment on the rocks 

 projecting from the water — to the point of his departure, 

 when he will again visit the bank and course up and 

 down or sit motionless. Well may the bird fill the be- 

 holder with wonderment at its aquatic motions ; for if a 

 Grebe or a Diver were gambolling in the water before him 

 he could not expect a more able performance. You 

 find, as a rule, the Dipper explores those parts of the 

 stream for food where the water is less troubled ; yet he 

 will not ujifrequently dash boldly into the boiling stream 



