174 



BIRDS OF THE ROCKIES 



early summer. Thus it would seem that the bir(Ts 

 mood is the gayest when his favorite stream is dashing 

 at its noisiest and most rapid pace down the steep 

 mountain defiles. The clamor of the stream often 

 drowns the song of the bird, the movement of his 

 mandibles being seen when not a sound from his music- 

 box can be heard. There must be a feeling of fellow- 

 ship between the bird and the stream he loves so well. 

 You will not be surprised to learn that the dipper 

 is an extremely hardy bird. No snowstorm, however 

 violent, can discourage him, but in the midst of it all 

 he sings his most cheerful lays, as if defying all the gods 

 of the winds.. While other birds, even the hardy nut- 

 hatches, often succumb to discouragement in cold wea- 

 ther, and move about with fluffed-up feathers, the very 

 picture of dejection not so the little dipper, who al- 

 ways preserves his cheerful temper, and is ready to say, 

 in acts, if not in words : " Is n't this the jolliest 

 weather you ever saw ? " Away up in Alaska, 

 where the glaciers hold perpetual sway, 

 this bird has been seen in the month 

 of November as glad and blithesome 

 as were his comrades in the summery 

 gorges of New Mexico. 



No snowstorm can discourage him " 



