COMMON DIPPER. 183 
plished by these animals without using great and continued 
exertions. Accordingly Mr. Macgillivray observes, “ I 
have seen the Dipper moving under water in situations 
where I could observe it with certainty; and I readily 
perceived that its actions were precisely similar to those 
of the Divers, Mergansers, and Cormorants, which I have 
often watched from an eminence as they pursued the shoals 
of sand-eels along the sandy shores of the Hebrides. It, 
in fact, flew, not merely using the wing from the carpal 
joimt, but extending it considerably, and employing its 
whole extent, just as if moving in the air. The general 
direction of the body in these circumstances is obliquely 
downwards; and great force is evidently used to counter- 
act the effects of gravity, the bird finding it difficult to 
keep itself at the bottom. Montagu well describes the 
appearance which it presents under such circumstances : 
in one or two instances, where we have been able to per- 
ceive it under water, it appeared to tumble about in a very 
extraordinary manner, with its head downwards, as if 
picking something; and at the same time great exertion 
was used, both by wings and legs. When searching for 
food, it does not proceed to great distances under water ; 
but, alighting on some spot, sinks, and soon reappears in 
the immediate neighbourhood, when it either dives again, 
or rises on the wing to drop somewhere else on the stream, 
or settle ona stone. The assertion of its walking below 
the water, which some persons have ventured, is not made 
good by observation, nor countenanced by reason. 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 long curved claws are very ill adapted for running, 
but admirably calculated for securing a steady footing on 
