NATURE'S CAROL SINGERS. 



THE DIPPER. 



THE earliest recol- 

 lections of my old 

 moorland home 

 in Yorkshire are 

 of rushing moun- 

 tain torrents , swirl - 

 ing and gurgling 

 round limestone 

 boulders, beneath 

 which I used to 

 tickle the lively 

 little brown trout, 

 and of white- 

 breasted Dippers flitting up and down. 



The Water Ouzel, as it is sometimes 

 called, is not at all a sociable bird. It takes 

 possession of some portion of a stream, 

 often limited to a few hundred yards in 

 length, and keeping more or less strictly 

 to it will not allow any intruder of its 

 own species to encroach upon its domain. 

 In appearance it is by no means un- 

 like a large black Wren with a snowy- 

 white breast and chestnut under parts. 

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