THE DIPPER RINGOUSEL. 99 



said to haunt the mouth of the Lewes river, near Newhaven ; * 

 and the Cornish chough builds, I know, all along the chalky 

 cliffs of the Sussex shore. 



I was greatly pleased to see little parties of ringousels (my 

 newly discovered migrators) scattered, at intervals, all along 

 the Sussex downs from Chichester to Lewes. Let them come 

 from whence they will, it looks very suspicious that they are 

 cantoned along the coast in order to pass the Channel when 

 severe weather advances. They visit us again in April, as it 

 should seem, in their return, and are not to be found in the 

 dead of winter. It is remarkable that they are very tame, and 



rather more to yellow, particularly on tlie tail coverts, and being a little 

 mottled with yellow upon the breast and back. The Weymouth pine 

 was their particular favourite, indeed, I scarcely observed them on any 

 other tree, except the sentinel, who regularly took his station on the top 

 of a spruce-fir, which happened to be the highest in the immediate neigh- 

 bourhood of their haunt. Their note, or call, very much resembled the 

 chirping of a chicken. They continued their visits, though the flock 

 certainly gradually diminished, during a great part of the winter ; and one 

 pair remained long after the rest had left, being constantly seen in 

 February and beginning of March, 1822." This was the year in which 

 Mr Selby mentions them as being so plentiful throughout the kingdom. 

 See our note, page 26. ED. 



* This is the dipper of modern ornithologists, (cinclus aquaticus of 

 Bechstein. ) White does not seem to have been acquainted with the 

 musical powers of this interesting species. The dipper begins to pour forth 

 its strong, distinct, and varied notes in the beginning of spring, and is 

 the earliest warbler of the remote situations where it usually localizes. 

 Montagu says, " This bird is amongst the few that sing so early in the spring 

 as the months of January and February. In hard frost, on the 1 1th of the 

 latter month, when the thermometer in the morning had been at twenty- 

 six degrees, we heard this bird sing incessantly in a strong and elegant 

 manner, and with much variation in notes, many of which were peculiar 

 to itself, intermixed with a little of the piping of the woodlark. At the 

 time it was singing, the day was bright, but freezing in the shade ; the 

 sun had considerably passed the meridian, and was obscured from the 

 bird by the lofty surrounding hills. The dipper devours a considerable 

 (juantity of fishes' spawn, especially the large ova of the salmon." 



The dipper dives with great dexterity, and can swim a considerable 

 way under water, emerging at a distance from the spot where it dis- 

 appeared. " We found a nest of this bird," says Colonel Montagu, " in 

 a steep bank, projecting over a rivulet, clothed with moss. The nest was 

 so well adapted to the surrounding materials, that nothing but the old 

 bird flying in with a fish in its bittwould have led to a discovery. The 

 young were nearly full feathered, but incapable of ilight ; and the moment 

 the nest was disturbed, they fluttered out, and dropped into the water, 

 and, to our astonishment, instantly vanished ; but, in a little time, made 

 their appearance at some distance down the stream ; and it was with 

 difficulty that two out of the five were taken, as they dived on being 

 approached. " ED. 



