COMMON DIPPER. 183 



plished by these animals without using great and continued 

 exertions. Accordingly Mr. Macgillivray observes, " I 

 have seen the Dipper moving under water in situations 

 where I could observe it with certainty ; and I readily 

 perceived that its actions were precisely similar to those 

 of the Divers, Mergansers, and Cormorants, which I have 

 often watched from an eminence as they pursued the shoals 

 of sand-eels along the sandy shores of the Hebrides. It, 

 in fact, flew, not merely using the wing from the carpal 

 joint, but extending it considerably, and employing its 

 whole extent, just as if moving in the air. The general 

 direction of the body in these circumstances is obliquely 

 downwards ; and great force is evidently used to counter- 

 act the effects of gravity, the bird finding it difficult to 

 keep itself at the bottom. Montagu well describes the 

 appearance which it presents under such circumstances : 

 in one or two instances, where we have been able to per- 

 ceive it under water, it appeared to tumble about in a very 

 extraordinary manner, with its head downwards, as if 

 picking something ; and at the same time great exertion 

 was used, both by wings and legs. When searching for 

 food, it does not proceed to great distances under water ; 

 but, alighting on some spot, sinks, and soon reappears in 

 the immediate neighbourhood, when it either dives again, 

 or rises on the wing to drop somewhere else on the stream, 

 or settle on a stone. The assertion of its walking below 

 the water, which some persons have ventured, is not made 

 good by observation, nor countenanced by reason. The 

 Dipper is by no means a walking bird : even on land I 

 have never seen it move more than a few steps, which 

 it accomplished by a kind of leaping motion. Its short 

 legs and long curved claws are very ill adapted for running, 

 but admirably calculated for securing a steady footing on 



