Dippers 693 



yet peculiarly its own, and only to be heard amongst the most romantic scenery, 

 mingled with the music of the mountain torrents." 



It used to be a marvel as to how the Dippers could get along so well under 

 water. Without knowing anything about its habits, it would seem no more 

 adapted to aquatic life than any Thrush or Wren. As a matter of fact, it stays 

 beneath the water solely by means of its wings, in a word, as Coues says, it flies 

 through the water, and moreover this "flight below the surface requires as 

 continuous effort to keep down as ordinary aerial flight demands in order that 

 a bird may stay up in the air." An interesting experiment was conducted 

 many years ago by Dr. John Davy, to ascertain the specific gravity of the 

 European Dipper. The bird's body alone, after the skin and feathers were 

 removed, had a specific gravity of 1.200, while in its natural state, with the 

 feathers on, it was only 0.724. "While under water few air bubbles escaped 

 from its feathers, owing to their resisting wetting from the oil with which they 

 are preened." 



Hudson, speaking of the form (C. britannicus] inhabiting Great Britain, says : 

 ' The stream he attaches himself to must have quiet and comparatively deep pools, 

 and the water must be clear to enable him to detect the larvae of water-beetles, 

 dragon-flies, and other aquatic insects, all of which have a protective coloring. 

 He does not range up and down a stream, like the Kingfisher, to visit the various 

 feeding places ; he limits himself to a portion of it, in many cases not much more 

 than a hundred yards in length, and explores the bottoms of the same pools 

 from day to day. ... In ascending a mountain stream such as these birds 

 love, abounding in deep, quiet pools, with noisy cascades and shallow rapids, 

 its bottom strewn with great fallen boulders partly submerged, the rocky banks 

 overgrown with sheltering bushes and vines, when you disturb a Dipper he 

 flies up stream a short distance, perhaps twenty yards, and alights on a boulder, 

 silent and motionless, until, disturbed again, he takes a second short flight up 

 stream, and so to the limit of his range, whereupon, rising up and doubling 

 back, he flies to the spot he started from." The whole stream may be parceled 

 out among several couples, each keeping to their own chosen territory. 



The Dippers nest rather early and build a large, bulky, domed nest, often 

 a foot or more in diameter, with a small opening in one side. It is composed 

 mainly of mosses, and is lined with fine rootlets, grasses, etc., the moss compos- 

 ing the bulk of the nest being kept wet by the dashing spray or by the birds 

 themselves, in order, apparently, to keep it in a fresh and growing condition, 

 although it is dry and warm within. Two nests which I found on a branch of 

 the Gallatin River, Montana, were placed in niches in perpendicular walls, at 

 the base of which ran the mountain stream. Dr. Merriam speaks of a nest he 

 found near Mystic Lake, Montana, that was placed in a recess behind a small 

 waterfall, through which the birds had to pass in going and coming from the 

 nest. 



The Dippers lay four to six pure white and unspotted eggs, which in size 

 are about one inch by seven tenths of an inch. 



