410 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
The Dipper I did not observe in the Aire below Shipley, 
doubtless on account of the polluted state of the river; nor in the 
Wharfe below Otley; nor have I noted it in Nidderdale below 
Pateley Bridge; nor in Washburndale below Blubberhouse. In 
the Ure, however, I have seen it as low as Ripon (90 feet). It 
follows almost every beck right up on to the moors. They are 
generally seen singly, sometimes in pairs. On May 9th, 1869, 
I watched two Dippers in the afternoon flying about over some 
shallows near Ramsgill. They kept chasing each other at a great 
pace, flying close above the water. In order to escape its pursuer, 
the pursued niow and then followed through the water, entering 
and leaving it without any apparent check. I was astonished at 
the freedom with which they could transfer themselves from the 
air to the water or the water to the air. Even a duck seems to 
rise out of the water with difficulty. They rested frequently on 
snags, stones, and roots of trees, and kept up an incessant “ chip, 
chip,” quickly repeated. The Dipper’s nest is sometimes so. 
placed that the bird would have to fly through the water every 
time it entered or left the nest. They frequently build under 
waterfalls. 
I observed the first and last flocks of Fieldfares as follows :— 
Stainburn Moor (800 feet), October 15, 1868; Crag Wood, near 
Brimham Rocks (500 feet), June 1,1969; Appletreewick, Wharfe- 
dale, Oct. 17, 1869; Hardgap, near Stean, Nidderdale (1200 ft.), 
on border of moor, Sept. 2, 1870. 
The Thrush and Blackbird go up to the Dale Head, at least as 
high as 1200 feet, where their voices tend to the wild beauty of 
the scene. 
“Et Merulus modulans sat pulchris tinnitat odis, 
Nocte ruente tamen cantica nulla canit.” 
“Lodge, May 21, 1871. The chorus of birds on this still, 
calm, sunny evening, 6.30 p.m., consists of the notes of the 
Curlew (of which a pair, wheeling about, has gone to the Nidd to 
drink), the Ring Ouzel, the Cuckoo, the Snipe high in air, and the 
Chaffinch, with his sharp ‘ wit, twit, twit,’ while Starlings are busy 
with their young in the neighbouring barn-roofs. 
‘Tune Turdus truculat, Sturnus tune pusitat ore.’ 
7 ».M. The Thrush has only just begun to sing, and now, save for 
the distant Curlew, he has it.all to himself. 7.30 p.m. Curlews 
