24 CINCLUS 



CINCLUS, Bechst. 1802. 



29. BLACK-BELLIED DIPPER. 

 CINCLUS MELANOGASTER. 



Cinclus melano (/aster, Brehm. Lehrb. Eur. Vog. i. p. 289 (1823) ; Gould, 

 B. of Gt. Brit. ii. pi. 42 ; Newton, i. p. 244 ; Dresser, ii. p. 177, pi. 

 20, fig. 2 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. vi. p. 311 ; Samiders, p. 97 ; 

 Lilford iii. p. 102, pi. 51. 



Str&m&cer, Dan. ; Fossekal, Norweg. ; Stromstare, Swed. ; Koski- 

 Jcara, Finn. ; Quoikgarek, Lapp ; Vodianoi-wrobei, Russ. 



Ad. (Sweden). Crown and nape blackish brown ; wings and tail 

 blackish brown, externally margined] with slate grey ; back dark slate 

 grey, squamated with blackish ; throat, fore part of breast, and a small spot 

 above and below the eye, pure white ; rest of under parts blackish brown, 

 the flanks washed with slate grey ; bill blackish ; legs brown ; iris dark 

 brown. Culmen 0'9, wings 3'7, tail, 2'25, tarsus T2 inch. The young bird 

 has the upper parts dull slaty brown, the wing feathers tipped with white, 

 the under parts white, barred with brown, flanks and anal regions slaty 

 brown. 



Hob. Scandinavia and Northern Europe, east to the Ural ; 

 the Faeroes but not Iceland, in winter straying to N. Germany, 

 Holland, Belgium, and England. 



The Dippers, both the present species and its allies, are 

 essentially water frequenters, living on running streams, 

 especially where there are rapids and waterfalls. They are 

 non-migratory only shifting their quarters in winter to 

 lower altitudes when driven from their haunts by stress 

 of weather. They dive with ease, and progress under water, 

 using their wings as a mode of progression, and seek their 

 food chiefly under water. They feed on aquatic insects of 

 various kinds and their larvae, and do not, as has been asserted, 

 devour the spawn of fish. Their flight is rapid and direct, 

 usually not high above the surface of the water. Their call 

 note is a sharp chit-chit, and their song is pleasing though short, 

 reminding one of that of the Wren. The nest is usually domed, 

 constructed of various kinds of mosses forming a close felted 

 mass with the entrance-hole in front, and lined with grass stems 

 rootlets and dead leaves. Cinclus albicollis is however said to 

 build an open nest. The eggs 4 to 5 in number are pure 

 white, glossy in texture of shell, rather elongated in shape 



