DIPPERS. 



57 



throated green warbler which annually arrives in the Eastern parts of the United 

 States early in May, nesting chiefly in fir-woods, and building in the oblique fork 

 of a bough, generally at some distance from the ground, constructing its, nest of a 

 variety of materials, such as vegetable fibres and dry stems, lined with finer grass, 

 horsehair, and feathers. The eggs are white in ground-colour, variegated with 

 purplish spots. The song of the male is plaintive and prolonged, and generally to 

 be heard among the pine-trees. As a straggler, this bird has occurred upon the 



BLACK-THROATED GREEN WARBLER ( nat. size). 



island of Heligoland. The adult male has the upper-parts olive-green, yellower 

 on the rump, the forehead and sides of the head bright yellow, the chin, breast, 

 and throat jet black, the abdomen white, and the wings and tail dusky, the wings 

 being barred with whitish. 



THE DIPPERS. 

 Family ClNCLIV^ 



The dippers form a small group apparently allied to the thrushes, but specially 

 adapted to a semi-aquatic life. They possess a narrow, straight bill, slightly bent 

 and notched ; a very short and rounded wing ; and a short and broad tail : the 

 metatarsus being long and smooth ; while the feet are furnished with long claws. 

 The sexes are alike ; and the young, unlike the adults, are always spotted on the 

 lower surface. The plumage is close and dense, and the body is covered with 

 down. The dippers frequent the beds of clear streams in the northern parts 

 of both hemispheres; while three species exist in South America, one of the 

 latter being Schulz's dipper a dark, grey bird with a pretty rufous throat, but 



