THE DIPPER 89 



hood of the old home ; and the parents, though 

 seldom afterwards seen feeding together, remain, 

 till the pairing season comes round once more, in 

 friendly possession of the reaches which served 

 them with food for their young. Seemingly, 

 their lines of flight reach farther on tributary 

 brooks than on broad, quick-running rivers 

 adjoining, where between the salmon-pools the 

 water is shallow over the gravelly fords. 



The dipper has been accused of preying on the 

 spawn and the fry of salmon and trout, and con- 

 sequently in a few districts has been unceasingly 

 persecuted. There are undoubtedly some grounds 

 for the accusation ; the bird, finding an egg or a 

 recently hatched fish beneath a pebble, would 

 hardly disdain such a tempting morsel. The 

 persecution, nevertheless, is altogether unreason- 

 able, since the bird amply atones for his misdeeds. 

 On our western streams he subsists chiefly on 

 water-worms, leeches, and the caddises and the 

 " creepers " of the stone-fly. No injury is done 

 to the angler by robbing the trout of " bottom " 

 food, because at all times, except in winter, 

 " surface " food is abundant. On the contrary, 

 the course thus pursued by the dipper is really 

 productive of good ; the trout in these localities, 

 while they do not afford such sport with the 

 artificial fly as on streams where " bottom " food 

 is scarce, are occasionally induced through the 



