508 PERCHING BIRDS. 



similar in size and shape to the European species. The whole of the twelve 

 known species are included in the genus Cinclus. The mountain -streams of 

 Europe are all frequented by one or other form of the white-breasted dippers, 

 which agree in habits wherever they are found. The busy, bustling dipper is 

 occasionally to be seen sporting upon the seashore at the mouth of some fresh- 

 water burn ; but we connect it more naturally with the eddying rapids of the 

 salmon river, or the rippling waters of the fellside beck. The common dipper 

 (Cinclus aquaticus) of Western Europe is a very early breeder, building at the 

 end of winter, sometimes in the branches or the roots of a tree, but generally 

 beneath a bridge, or overhanging rock. The nest is constructed of fine stems of 

 grass, lined with dead leaves, and enclosed in a beautifully formed case of green 

 moss; the eggs being pure white. Althougn the dipper delights in frosty 

 weather, its song may be heard at any season of the year. Whether the loosened 

 ice be floating down the river, or the flowering of the pilewort in the hedgeside 

 afford an omen that the present is the time to pair, the dipper is ever a perfect 

 embodiment of grace combined with indomitable energy. Retaining a spirit 

 unsoured and unchafed by the petty disappointments of life, nothing ever seems to 

 come amiss to him. When the redwing hops dolefully across the snowdrift, and 

 famishing rooks fall with beak and nail upon weaker birds, the dipper preserves 

 his equanimity intact, and manages to secure an easy competency. The adult has 

 the upper-parts slaty grey ; the head brown ; the chin, throat, and upper breast 

 pure white; and the rest of the lower -parts chestnut -brown, varying much in 

 intensity. The European species is replaced in the Himalaya by the brown 

 dipper (C. asiaticus), which is found at elevations from one to fourteen 

 thousand feet, according to the season. This dipper lays at very different 

 periods, according to elevation, sometimes nesting as early as December : the nests 

 found by Mr. Hume were large balls of moss, wedged into clefts of moss and fern- 

 covered rocks, the one, half under a little cascade, the other about a foot above 

 the water's edge in the side of a rock standing in the midst of a broad, deep 

 stream. The eggs are pure white, similar to those of the European dipper, but 

 smaller. The adult male has the entire plumage chocolate-brown, with the edges of 

 the feathers somewhat paler in places, the eyelids are covered with white feathers, 

 and the wings and tail are dark brown. 



THE WRENS. 



Family TROGLODYTID^. 



The wrens are a group of very small birds, showing a considerable variety of 

 form among upwards of a hundred representatives. They are characterised by a 

 moderate or slender bill, either straight or slightly curved; the nostrils being 

 narrow, or broadly oval, and exposed ; while the wings are short and generally 

 rounded ; and the tail of variable length, often rounded, and frequently carried 

 over the back. These birds are most abundantly represented in South America, 

 but have their typical representatives both in North America and the northern 

 parts of the Old World. Certain forms are also found in the Himalaya and Tibet, 



