CLARKE : THE BIRDS OF YORKSHIRE. 65 



CINCLUS AQUATICUS Bechstein. 

 Dipper. 



A local resident. '^ ' 



' Rarely met with in the East Riding, frequently seen on the mountain 

 streams of the North and West Ridings.' — T/iomas Allis, 1844.* 



The Dipper is a common resident on the mountain becks 

 and rivers which abound in or travei'se the Fell district of 

 north-western Yorkshire ; it also occurs, but less numerously, 

 on the streams of the south-western moorlands, and is fairly 

 common in suitable haunts among the hills of Cleveland. In 

 these extensive habitats the three-hundred feet contour line may 

 be taken as defining the lower limit of the bird's distribution in 

 any considerable abundance, while below this elevation it is 

 sporadic down to as low as one hundred feet. It is a strictly 

 sedentary species, but when frosts of unusual severity and long 

 duration render its subalpine home untenable, owing to the ice- 

 bound streams no longer affording food, the Dipper descends 

 to the lower reaches, and even then seldom indeed moves 

 further than necessary, though it has once or twice been known 

 to visit the polluted waters of the manufacturing districts. 



It is not known with certainty to have occurred in the 

 East Riding, unless indeed the bird shot by the Rev. F. O. 

 Morris at Nunburnholme, on the loth of January, 1856, 

 belonged to this form, which is questionable, since it was not 

 preserved. This absence from a district which includes the 

 Yorkshire Wolds, attaining to an elevation of 805 feet, is to be 

 accounted for by the deficiency of permanent streams, the only 

 rivulets to which the undulating chalk hills give rise being the 

 intermittent ones termed ' gypseys.' 



* As Mr. Allis' ' Report on the Birds of Yorkshire, ' prepared for the 

 York Meeting of the British Association in 1844, has never been published, 

 it is intended to quote verbatim all that he has to tell concerning them, com- 

 mencing each species with his account of it. I beg to acknowledge my 

 indebtedness to Mr. Wm. Pumphrey — the late Mr. Allis' son-in-law — for his 

 kindness in entrusting me with the original manuscript of this valuable paper. 



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