THE DIPPER 



CINCLUS AQUATICUS. 



Upper plumage dark brown, tinged with ash ; throat and breast pure white ; 

 abdomen brownish red ; bill blackish ; feet horn-colour. Female : Colours 

 nearly the same, bxit of a dingy hue. Length seven inches. Eggs pure white. 



ANY one who has wandered by the mountain rivers of 

 Scotland, North Wales, or Derbyshire, can have scarcely 

 failed to notice a bird, somewhat less than a blackbird, 

 black above and white below, dart with rapid and direct 

 flight from a low rock on the river's bank, and alight on a 

 wet mossy stone rising but a few inches above the water, 

 where the stream runs swiftest and the spray sparkles 

 brightest. But for the roar of the torrent you might hear 

 his song, a low melodious strain, which he often carries far on 

 into the winter. His movements while he is thus perched 



