a 
30. 
TURDIDA: — CINCLINZ: DIPPERS. 255 
shorter than head, slender and compressed throughout, higher than broad at the nostrils, about 
straight, but seeming to be.slightly recurved, owing to a sort of upward tilting of the superior 
mandible; culmen at first slightly concave, then convex; commissure slightly sinuous, to eor- 
respond with the culmen, notched near the end; gonys convex. Nostrils linear, opening 
beneath a large scale partly covered with feathers. No rictal vibrissz, nor any trace of bristles 
or bristle-tipped feathers about the nostrils. Plumage soft, lustreless, remarkably full and 
compact, water-proof. Body stout, thick-set. Habits aquatic. A simall but remarkable 
group, in which the characters shared by the Turdine, Saxicoline, and Sylviine are modified 
in adaptation to the singular aquatic life the species lead. There is only one genus, with 
about 12 species, inhabiting clear mountain streams of most parts of the world, chiefly the 
Northern Hemisphere; easily flying under water, and spending much of their time in that 
element, where their food, of various aquatic animal substances, is gleaned. 
CIN'CLUS. (Gr. kiykdos, kigklos, Lat. cinclus, a kind of bird. Figs. 114, 127, 128.) Dip- 
PERS. Characters those of the subfamily, as above given. 
Fic, 128. — American Dipper, nat. size. (Ad nat. del. E. C.) 
C. mexica/nus. (Lat. mexicanus, Mexican. Fig. 128.) AmuricaAN Dipper, or WATER 
OvuzeL. 9, adult, in summer: Slaty-plumbeous, paler below, inclining on the head to 
sooty-brown. Quills and tail-feathers fuscous. Eyelids usually white. Bill black; feet 
yellowish. Length 6.00-7.00; extent 10.00-11.00; wing 3.50-4.00; tail about 2.25 ; bill 0.60 ; 
tarsus 1.12; middle toe and claw rather less. Individuals vary much in size. @9, in 
winter, and most immature specimens, are still paler below, all the feathers of the under parts 
being skirted with whitish. The quills of the wing are also tipped with white. The bill is 
yellowish at the base. Young: Below, whitish, more or less so according to age, frequently 
tinged with pale cinnamon-brown ; whole under parts sometimes overlaid with the whitish ends 
of the feathers, shaded with rufous posteriorly ; throat usually nearly white ; bill mostly yellow ; 
white tipping of the wing-feathers at a maximum; in some cases the tail-feathers similarly 
marked. Mountains of Western N. A., from Alaska to Mexico; a sprightly and engaging resi- 
dent of clear mountain streams, usually observed flitting among the rocks; has a fine song. 
Nest a pretty ball of green moss lined with grasses, with a hole at the side, hidden in the rift 
of a rock, or other nook close to the water: eggs about 5, 1.04 x 0.70, pure white, unmarked. 
