SOME BIRD PROBLEMS 



93 



the Eedbreast to catch and devour Sticklebacks ! These I 

 know "are isolated instances, but there must be a reason for this 

 change of diet, even if only occasional. Both the lizards and 

 fish were captured in Summer when food was plentiful. 



PIG. 41. STONECHAT. 



Not long ago I was watching a Dipper (Cindus cindus britan- 

 nicus) manceuvring around a beck in Yorkshire. This species 

 has always been somewhat of an ornithological puzzle to me, for 

 it is a song bird that dives and a waterbird that sings. It does 

 not possess webbed, or lobed, feet, yet it flies helter skelter down 

 stream, dashes headlong, and without the slightest hesitation, 

 into and under the water, and probes about for food on the bed 

 of the stream. I have never seen it swim. Can any light be 

 thrown on the structure and habits of this bird ? Why, too, 

 like the Redbreast, has it acquired the habit of bobbing up and 

 down as if on living stilts ? 



The Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes), as is well known, builds 

 more nests than are occupied for rearing a family. So far as I 

 know, no satisfactory explanation for this has been forthcoming. 



