252 BRITISH BIRDS. 



Genus CINCLUS. 



The genus Cinclus was established by Bechstein in 1802, in his ' Orni- 

 thologische Taschenbuch/ i. p. 206. As C. aquaticus, or one of its numerous 

 local though unnamed races, was the only species with which Bechstein 

 was acquainted, it becomes of necessity the type of his genus. It contains 

 the Dippers, which may be distinguished from the true Thrushes by their 

 short concave wings fitting tightly to the body, and their dense plumage, 

 adapted to their aquatic habits. 



The Dippers, of which about a dozen species are known, extend over the 

 entire Palsearctic Region wherever mountain-streams occur; but in the 

 Indian Region they are apparently confined to the Western Himalayas and 

 the mountains of China and Formosa. In the Nearctic Region they are 

 found throughout the Rocky Mountains, in the same chain through Central 

 America into the Neotropical Region, where they are found in the Andes 

 of Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. One species is resident in the British 

 Islands. 



Ornithologists differ in opinion as to the affinities of the Dippers. 

 Brisson was hopelessly wrong in placing them amongst the Sandpipers; and 

 Linnaeus was probably mistaken in considering them to be Starlings. I 

 think Latham was not far wrong in including them amongst the Thrushes, 

 though Sharpe appears to think otherwise and has placed them with the 

 Wrens. The Dippers are probably most nearly allied to the subgeneric 

 group of Ground-Thrushes known as Zootherae. Most of the species, how- 

 ever, have lost the Geocichline pattern on the wing ; but the American 

 species still retain it, although in a somewhat rudimentary condition. They 

 are aquatic in their habits, frequenting mountain-streams and obtaining 

 most of their food from the waters. Their food consists of aquatic insects, 

 ova of fishes, and Mollusca. They are fair songsters. They build bulky 

 nests, domed, and made of moss, dry grass, leaves, &c., placing them under 

 banks, amongst rocks, or between the roots of trees. Their eggs, from 

 four to six or seven in number, are, so far as is known, pure white. 



