496 AMERICAN DIPPER. 
sions into the water, running out with quiet activity, and presently 
bobbing up to the surface, and regaining its perch by swimming or 
wading. The assertion of its walking 7m the water, on the bottom, 
which some persons have ventured, is not made good by observation, 
nor countenanced by reason and the nature of things. 'The Dipper is 
by no means a walking bird: even on land I have never seen it move 
more than a few steps, which it accomplished by a kind of leaping 
motion. Its short legs and curved claws are very ill adapted for run- 
ning, but admirably calculated for securing a steady footing on slip- 
pery stones, whether above or beneath the surface of the water. Like 
the Kingfisher, it often remains a long time perched on a stone, but in 
most other respects its habits are very dissimilar. 
“ The first opportunity which I had of observing this bird advancing 
under water occurred in Braemar, in 1819, when, from the bank of the 
stream which passes by Castletown, I noticed one “ tumbling about ” in 
the rapid current. In September 1832 I watched a Dipper for some 
time, on a part of the Tweed, where the current was very rapid. It 
flew off from the shore, and alighted in the middle of the stream, where 
it immediately dived. Reappearing a little way farther up the river, 
it floated for a few seconds, dived, emerged, and flew to the opposite 
bank, on reaching which it again disappeared under water for a short 
time, and thus continued its exertions. When perched on a stone near 
the shore, especially if the water be not much agitated around, it 
usually makes short incursions into it, apparently for the purpose of 
procuring food, and returns to its station. On these occasions it is not 
difficult to approach it, provided due precaution be used ; but in gene- 
ral it is shy and easily alarmed. I have several times shot at an indivi- 
dual which observed me as I was quietly walking up to it; but it is not 
often that one remains until you come within shot. A method which 
I have often successfully practised was to mark the position of the bird 
at a distance, taking note of an object on the bank opposite to it, then 
make a circuit, and suddenly come upon the spot. When one has been 
pursued either up or down a stream for a quarter of a mile or so, it 
usually turns, to regain its ordinary station, when it may be shot as it 
dashes past. 
“ In August 1834, while ascending White Coom, the highest moun- 
tain in Dumfriesshire, accompanied by my son, I observed a Dipper 
retreating behind a large stone, over which the water fell, in the midst 
