DIPPER. 161 



This anomalous bird is found in Eussia, Siberia, and 

 Scandinavia generally, and also among the Alpine streams, 

 and in G-ermany and the northern parts of Spain, namely, in 

 the Pyrenean range. In Asia it has also been known. 



It is a native of the mountainous districts of England, 

 Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, frequenting the streams which 

 there rise, and following their course into the more lowland 

 country, especially in severe weather, when it betakes itself 

 to the rapids and falls; occasionally it is to be seen on the 

 pebbled and shallow margin of a lake; but it is only a chance 

 straggler in any other parts. I have seen it in Yorkshire, 

 and on the Goit, which divides Derbyshire from Cheshire. 

 In Devonshire it is not uncommon on the rivers that have 

 their origin in Dartmoor; also in Cornwall, Westmorland, 

 and Cumberland. It has been seen at Wyrardisbury, on the 

 Colne, and on the Mole, near Esher, in the neighbourhood 

 of London; also in Essex. The Rev. R P. Alington has seen 

 one in Lincolnshire, in the summer, sitting on a stone in the 

 middle of a small stream called Hallington Beck, near Louth. 

 In Norfolk one was shot at Burgh, in the month of November, 

 1806. In the Hebrides it is well known. 



The Dipper's habits are retired, in unison with the 

 sequestered and secluded situations which it loves. More 

 than two are rarely seen in company, excepting indeed in the 

 summer, while the parents and the young still associate 

 together: four or five may however sometimes be seen fre- 

 quenting the same stream. That this bird has the power of 

 walking at the bottom of the water, is an established fact. 

 The argument against its being able to do so, is that to the 

 reasoning powers of some persons it does not seem possible. 

 Its feet are admirably adapted for holding on to the stones 

 over which it makes its way, and for stemming at the same 

 time the force of the current; for that no effort is required 

 to keep its place below the surface, is what no one has said. 

 On dry land it is by no means an expert walker, being there 

 evidently out of its element; it perches on the isolated stones 

 or rocks around which the rapid stream eddies, or on some 

 projecting crag or mound on the bank. In it walks, keeping 

 on the bottom as long as you can follow it, and doubtless 

 after you have lost sight of it; or alighting on the surface, 

 plunges beneath, and makes its way downwards, exerting its 

 wings to aid it in its descent. And agile it is, quick and 

 dexterous in all these its movements; generally proceeding 

 vou in. i 



