218 FACULTIES OF BIRDS. 



singular habits of the dipper were unknown to all the 

 sportsmen whom I have talked with ; and perhaps 

 without the accident of the snow-hut, I should ever 

 have been ignorant of them : but I can aver that the 

 bird came to my very feet, and, that I might observe 

 it, I did not kill it *." 



M. Montbeillard also distinctly states that the dip- 

 per walks quite into the flood, following the declivity 

 of the ground, entering by degrees till the water 

 reaches its neck, and as it advances, holding its head 

 not higher than usual but completely submersed, and 

 descending to the very bottom, where it walks as if it 

 were on dry ground f. 



These details seem to be authenticated by the per- 

 sonal observations of the two distinguished naturalists ; 

 but the facts are disputed by Montagu and Selby. 

 " I have repeatedly," says the latter, " seen them dive 

 below the surface and remain submerged for a con- 

 siderable time, occupied in pursuing the fry, or young 

 fish, or in search of the larvae of aquatic insects. At 

 other times they walk slowly into the water from the 

 shallow part of a pool, till it becomes of sufficient 

 depth for diving; but I have not been able, even 

 from close observation, to certify the fact of their 

 walking with apparent ease at the bottom, an error 

 of opinion which might arise from the manner of their 

 occasionally entering the water. On the contrary, the 

 same exertion seems to be used by them as by other 

 diving birds J." 



" We have seen it," says Montagu, "walk into the 

 water, and, as it were, sink beneath the surface, as if 

 its specific gravity was actually greater than that of 

 the element; but doubtless some exertion must be 

 used to keep itself at the bottom besides that of sim- 

 ple walking, or it would instantly rise and float on 



* Buffon, Oiseaux, Art. Le Merle d'Eau. t Ibid. 



I Illustrations, p. 62. 



