NATURE'S CAROL SINCERE 



THE DIPPER. 



The earliest recol- 

 lections of my old 

 moorland home 

 in Yorkshire are 

 of rushing moun- 

 tain torrents, swirl- 

 ing and gurgling 

 round limestone 

 boulders, beneath 

 which I used to 

 tickle the lively 

 little brown trout, 

 and of white- 

 breasted Dippers flitting up and down. 



The \\'ater Ouzel, as it is sometimes 

 called, is not at all a sociable bird. It takes 

 possession of some portion of a stream, 

 often limited to a few hundred yards in 

 length, and keeping more or less strictl\- 

 to it will not allow any intruder of its 

 own species to encroach upon its domain. 

 In appearance it is by no means un- 

 like a large black \^'ren with a sno^^•y- 

 white breast and chestnut under parts. 

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