THE DIPPER, OR WATER OUSEL. 317 
THE Ant Thrushes find an English representative in the well-known 
DIPPER, or WATER OUSEL, of our river banks. 
Possessing neither brilliant plumage nor graceful shape, it is yet one of the 
most interesting of British birds when watched in its favourite haunts. It 
always frequents rapid streams and channels, and being a very shy and 
retiring bird, invariably prefers those spots where the banks overhang the 
water, and are clothed with thick brushwood. Should the bed of the 
stream be broken up with rocks or large stones, and ‘he fall be sufficiently 
sharp to wear away an occasional pool, the Dipper is ai the better pleased 
with its home, and in such a locality may generally be found by a patient 
observer. 
All the movements of this little bird are quick, jerking, and wren-like, a 
similitude which is enhanced by its habit of continually flirting its apology 
for a tail. Caring nothing for the frosts of winter, so long as the water 
PLY, 
PPro £2 
SE, matte =< 
MEADOW PIPIT.—(Axnthus pratensis.) 
remains free from ice, the Dipper may be seen throughout the winter months 
flitting from stone to stone with the most animated gestures, occasionally 
stopping to pick up some morsel of food, and ever and anon taking to the 
water, where it sometimes dives entirely out of sight, and at others merely 
walks into the shallows and there flaps about with great rapidity. 
The food of the Dipper seems to be exclusively of an animal character, 
and, in the various specimens which have been examined, consists of insects 
in their different stages, small crustaceze, and the spawn and fry of various 
fishes. Its fish-eating propensities have been questioned by some writers. 
but the matter has been entirely set at rest by the discovery of fish-bones 
and half-digested fish in the stomachs of Dippers that had been shot. 
Generally, however, the food consists of water-beetles, particularly of the 
genus known by the name of Hydrophilus, a flat, oval-shaped insect, with 
hard wing-cases and oar-like hind-legs. The bird has also been known to 
pick up the caddis worms, taking them on shore, pulling and knocking to 
pieces the tough case in which the fat white grub is enveloped, and swallow- 
ing the contents, 
