498 A PRACTICAL HANDBOOK OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



Description (Plate 17). — Adult and first winter and summer. Male 

 and female. — Upper-parts like C. c. britannicus ; whole of lower- 

 breast and belly black-brown usually with a tinge of chestnut- 

 brown near white of upper-breast and very rarely with as much 

 chestnut -brown as in some examples of C. c. hibernicus. In first 

 winter birds the narrow dark fringes of white feathers of throat 

 and breast are, as in C. c. hibernicus, rather darker and more marked 

 than in C. c. britannicus. 



Nestling.- — (Not examined.) 



Juvenile. — Like that of C. c. britannicus but uj)per-j)arts 

 considerably paler slate-grey and feathers with less dark or 

 broad edgings ; uncler-paits white, blackish edgings of feathers 

 being narrower. 



Measurements and structure. — (^ wing 87-96.5 mm., tail 48-58,. 

 tarsus 27-30, bill from skull 21-23 (12 measured). $ wing 85-93. 

 Structure as in C. c. britannicus. 



Breeding-habits. — Similar to those of British race, but nests 

 more frequently under natural conditions on recks and less often 

 in walls and buildings. Nest and Eggs. — Also similar but clutches 

 of 6 and 7 are recorded. Average of 54 eggs, 25.9x18.7 mm. 

 Breeding-season. — Usually early in June in northern Scandinavia, 

 but in April in the south. 



Food. — Aquatic insect larvae and freshwater Crustacea as a rule 

 but on high fjeld Alston found it searching for insects on ground 

 and met with diptera and cokoptera (Carabidse) in stomachs. 

 Gurney records Gyrinus in a Norfolk specimen. 



Distribution. — England. — Vagrant. Has occurred several times 

 in Norfolk and Yorks. from Oct. to Feb. Examples stated to have 

 been of this form have also been recorded from Lines., Suffolk,. 

 Essex, Notts., and Salop, and from Spiggie (Shetlands). 



Distribution. — Abroad. — Scandinavia and north Russia, Russian 

 Baltic Provinces south to East Prussia where possibly not nesting 

 after 1900. In winter in small numbers in north-east Germany 

 and east Russia. Replaced by allied races in Germany, the 

 Pyrenees, Spain, Alps and Italy, Corsica and Sardinia, north-west. 

 Africa, south-east Europe, Cyprus, the Caucasus, west and central 

 Asia and Siberia. 



205. Cinclus cinclus britannicus Tschusi — THE BRITISH 

 DIPPER. 



Cinclus cinclus britannicus Tschusi, Oni. Jahrb., xiii, p. 69 (1902 — 

 Great Britain). 



Cinclus aquations Bechstein, Yarrell, i, p. 241 (part) ; Saunders, p. 97 

 (part) ; G. c. britannicus Tsch., Hartert, Brit. B., i, p. 220. 



Description (Plate 17). — Adult male and female. Winter. — ■ 

 Fore-head, crown and nape dark chocolate-brown ; rest of upper- 



