44 CINCLID^. 



parts of the Palsearctic region, its southern limits extending in Asia to the Himalayas, 

 and in Africa to the Atlas Mountains. 



The habits of the species are well known, and have been fully described by writers 

 on European and North-American birds. The number of recognizable species is about 

 thirteen, an account of which will be found in ' The Ibis' for 1867. 



1. Cinclus mexicanus. 



Cinclus mexicanus, Sw. Phil. Mag. new ser. i. p. 368 ^ Scl. P. Z. S. 1859, p. 361'; Baird, Rev. 

 Am. B. p. 60'; Salv. Ibis, 1866, p. 190', 1867, p. 120'; Sumichrast, Mem. Bost. Soc. 

 N. H. i. p. 544°; Baird, Brew. & Ridgw. N. Am. B. i. p. 56'; Coues, B. of the N.W. 

 p. 10'; B. of the Col. VaU. p. 89'. 



Obscure cinereus, oapite undique fuscescente. Long, tota 6-2, alae 3-4, oaudae 1-8, tarsi 1-1, rostri a rictu 1-0. 

 (Descr. exempl. ex Oaxaca, Mexico. Mus. nostr.) 



Hub. Mountains of Centbal and Western N. America from the Yukon southwards^ ^. — 

 Mexico, Temiscaltepec {Bullock^), Jalapa {de Oca^), Tierra fria {le Strange), 

 alpine region of Vera Cruz {Sumichrast^), Oaxaca (FenocMo) ; Guatemala?, 

 ridge above Totonicapam (0. S.^). 



Though the Mexican Dipper was first brought into notice as an American bird by 

 Swainson, who described Bullock's specimen ^, it was supposed by Bonaparte to be the 

 same as the Asiatic Cinclus pallasi, and for some time passed under that name *. 



It has an extensive range in North America, reaching from the Yukon throughout 

 the Rocky Mountains, to Southern Mexico and probably to Guatemala. It seems 

 to be resident wherever it occurs, even in the most northern parts of its range, 

 where Mr. W. H. Dall found it in the height of winter''. Its habits, which 

 quite resemble those of the common European Cinclus aquaticus, have been fully 

 described by writers on North- American birds '^ ^, and need not be repeated here. 

 From Mexico we have but few details concerning it ; Prof. Sumichrast ^ places it 

 amongst the birds of the alpine region of Orizaba, but states that it follows the water- 

 courses of the Cordillera into the temperate region as low as 3300 feet above the sea, 

 its range in altitude extending upwards to an elevation of 7200 feet. In Guatemala 

 we only once met with Dippers, when, on the 5th September 1862, a pair were 

 observed in a mountain-torrent in the Cordillera above Totonicapam, at an elevation of 

 about 10,000 feet above the sea. One of these was shot, but lost in the stream. Not 

 having examined these birds at less than a gunshot distance, we cannot say whether 

 they actually agreed with the Mexican C. mexicanus; but we observed that their 

 plumage was of one colour, as in the northern bird. 



Cinclus mexicanus has received several synonyms, which will be found enumerated 

 in Dr. Coues's ' Birds of the Colorado Valley'^. 



* Bp. Ann. Lye. N. Y. ii'. p. 439, and Am. Cm. iii. p. 1, t. 16. f. 1, 



