138 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 



Seebohm says :— " The haunts of the Dipper are exclusively confined to the 

 swift-flowing rocky mountain-streams. On these he is found all the year round, 

 in places where the waters now curl over hidden rocks, or dash round the exposed 

 and mossy ones, and toss and fall in never-ceasing strife. The banks must be 

 rugged also to suit the Dipper, all the better if in the rock-clefts a few mountain- 

 ashes and birches have gained a good hold. But a Dipper is not a bird of the 

 branches. You will make your first acquaintance with him most probably as he 

 dashes rapidly from some water- encircled rock, or as he shoots past you uttering 

 his sharp but monotonous call-note, to alight on some distant stone, or mayhap 

 seek the boiling current itself, to astonish and amuse you by his aquatic gambols. 

 The Dipper is also found on the barest of mountain- torrents, places where not 

 a tree or shrub is found, where the waters roll and tumble in wildest mood across 

 the heathery moors and down the bare mountain-sides." 



The Dipper seeks much of its food under water, in which it dives and swims 

 with ease. Lord Lilford, after confirming the statement of other observers — that 

 this species, unlike the Kingfisher and other diving birds, does not take a header, 

 observes : — " The Dipper sinks, if I may say so, horizontally, and, as may be 

 supposed, seems to have a good deal of trouble to keep below. These birds will 

 go down in the most rapid streams and boiling pools below a waterfall, and, 

 emerging with a jerk, fly off to a big stone, set up a short but very sweet song, 

 and resume their subaqueous explorations. All their movements are sudden and 

 rapid ; they seem to be always in a hurry, and are eminently in keeping with the 

 character of the streams which they frequent, and to which they add a great 

 attraction." 



" The song of the Dipper, though not very powerful, is very pleasing, and is 

 associated in my mind with many delightful reminiscences of wild mountain and 

 river scenery in our island and abroad. The male bird sits jerking his tail, and 

 warbling often amidst a whirl and roar of rushing waters, and, in manner, reminds 

 one a great deal of the Common Wren ; the song is continued throughout the 

 winter months." 



The nest of the Dipper, or " Water Ouzel," as it is sometimes called, is 

 a domed structure ; a hollow ball of moss, sometimes interwoven with grass and 

 with an entrance-hole in front and low down ; the inner lining is firmly compacted 

 of twigs, dry grass, rootlets, and dead leaves. The site chosen for the nest is in 

 a mossy bank, a hole in a rock, wall or bridge, or among the mossy roots of trees 

 overhanging water, not infrequently on a rocky ledge behind a waterfall. The 

 building commences early in April, and at least two broods are reared in the year. 

 The same nest is sometimes used twice in a season. The eggs, four to five in 



