322 HABITS OF THE DIPPER 



All the movements of this little bird are quick, jerking, and wren-like, a similitude 

 which is enhanced by its habit of continually flirting its apology for a tail. Caring 

 nothing for the frost of winter, so long as the water remains free from ice, the Dipper may 

 be seen throughout the winter months, flitting from stone to stone with the most animated 

 gestures, occasionally stopping to pick up some morsel of food, and ever and anon taking 

 to the water, where it sometimes dives entirely out of sight, and at others merely walko 

 into the shallows, and there flaps about with great rapidity. An interesting account of 

 the proceedings of some Dippers appeared in the formerly celebrated "Annals of 

 Sporting:" "About four years ago, when on a shooting excursion to the Highlands, I 

 embraced the opportunity (as everybody else who has it ought to do) of visiting the 

 deservedly celebrated falls of the Clyde, and here it was, while viewing the fall of 

 Bonnington, that, happening to cast my eye down below, a little beyond the foot of the 

 cascade where the bed of the river is broken with stones and fragments of rocks, I espied, 

 standing near each other on a large stone, no less than five water-ousels. Thus favourably 

 stationed as I was for a view, myself unseen, I had a fair opportunity for overlooking 

 their manoeuvres. I observed, accordingly, that they flirted up their tails, and flew from 

 one stone to another, till at length they mustered again upon the identical one on which 

 I had first espied them. They next entered into the water and disappeared, but they did 

 not all do this at the same time, neither did they do it in the same manner. Three of 

 them plunged over head instantaneously, but the remaining two walked gradually into 

 the water, and, having displayed their wings, spread them upon the surface, and by this 

 means appeared entirely to support themselves. In this position they continued for some 

 time, at one moment quickly spinning themselves, as it were, two or three times round, at 

 another desisting and remaining perfectly motionless on the surface ; at length they almost 

 insensibly sank. 



What became of them then it is not in my power to state, the water not being 

 sufficiently transparent to enable me to discover the bottom of the river, particularly as I 

 was elevated so much above it. Neither can I say that I perceived any one of them 

 emerge again, although I kept glancing my eye in every direction, in order, if possible, to 

 catch them in the act of re-appearing ; the plumage of the bird, indeed, being so much in 

 harmony with the surrounding masses of stone, rendered it not very easily distinguishable. 

 I did, however, afterwards observe two of these birds upon a stone on the opposite side of 

 the stream, and possibly the other three might also have emerged and have escaped my 

 notice." 



While employed at the bottom of the stream, the bird keeps itself below the surface 

 by beating rapidly upwards with its wings, just as a human diver beats the water with his 

 hands and feet, while seeking for some object under the water. To an observer at the 

 surface, the bird appears to tumble and scramble about at random in a very comical 

 manner, but in truth the little creature is perfectly capable of directing its course, and of 

 picking up any article of food that may meet its eye. Mr. St. John says of the Dipper, 

 that it walks and runs about on the ground at the bottom of the water, scratching with 

 its feet among the small stones, and pecking at all the insects and animalculae which it 

 can dislodge. Sometimes the bird has been observed moving about in the water with its 

 head only above the surface. 



The food of the Dipper seems to be exclusively of an animal character, and, in the 

 various specimens which have been examined, consists of insects in their different stages, 

 small crustaceae, and the spawn and fry of various fishes. Its fish-eating propensities have 

 been questioned by some writers, but the matter has been entirely set at rest by the 

 discovery of fish-bones and half-digested fish in the stomachs of Dippers that had been 

 shot. Generally, however, the food consists of water-beetles, particularly of the genus 

 known by the name of Hydrophilus, a flat, oval-shaped insect, with hard wing-cases and 

 oar-like hind-legs. The bird has also been known to pick up the caddis worms, taking 

 them on shore, pulling and knocking to pieces the tough case in which the fat white grub 

 is enveloped, and swallowing the contents with great satisfaction. It does not always dive 

 for the purpose of obtaining its food, but frequently perches upon the water's edge, and 

 pecks its prey out of the muddy soil 



