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Subfamily CINCLINM. 



Genus CINCLUS. 



Sturnus apud Linnaeus, Syst. Nat. i. p. 290 (1766, partim). 

 Turclus apud Latham, Ind. Orn. ii. p. 343 (1790, partim). 

 Cinclus, Bechstein, Orn. Taschenb. p. 206 (1802). 

 Hydrobata apud Vieillot, Nouv. Diet. i. p. 219 (1816). 

 Aquatilis apud Montagu, Orn. Diet. Suppl. (1813). 



The Dippers inhabit the entire Palsearctic Region where suitable localities (such as streams 

 flowing through broken hilly country) occur, and they are likewise met with in the Nearctic 

 Region as far south as Veragua. In the Western Palsearctic Region there are but three species, 

 all of which are very closely allied. There has been no little difference of opinion as to where 

 the Dippers should be placed in classifying the Passeres. Most authors place them very close 

 to the true Thrushes ; and in this I am inclined to agree with them. Mr. A. R. Wallace, in his 

 classification of the Passeres, places the genus Cinclus after the Sylviidee, between the Panuridae 

 and Troglodytidae ; whereas Keyserling and Blasius, on the other hand, place it near the Starlings, 

 between the Certhiidae and the Motacillidae ; but Sundevall, whose views are, as a rule, very 

 sound, includes this genus in his Phalanx 1, Ocreatse, placing it next to the true Thrushes. 

 Judging from the habits and general appearance of the Dipper, it seems to me that it is a 

 modified Thrush ; and I have followed Sundevall in his views on the subject. 



The Dippers are tolerably good songsters ; unlike the Thrushes, however, they are not 

 omnivorous, but exclusively insectivorous, feeding on various kinds of aquatic insects. They 

 build bulky nests, which they place in a hole or under the ledge of a rock, always near water ; 

 and their eggs, usually from four to six in number, are pure glossy white. 



Cinclus aquaticus, which appears to me to be the type of the genus, has the plumage 

 compact, the bill rather short, slender, slightly bent upwards, and compressed towards the tip, 

 with an obscure notch at the tip, no bristles on the gape ; tarsus moderate in length, covered 

 in front with a long undivided plate and four inferior scutellae; wings short, broad, rounded, 

 the first quill very short, the third and fourth nearly equal, the former being longest ; tail 

 short, even. 



Cinclus pallasii is said to have a claim to be included in the European avifauna ; but its 

 claim rests solely on one specimen which was obtained in Heligoland by Gatke on the 31st 

 December 1847; and it would seem that that example is no longer in the Gatke collection, as 

 it is not included by Mr. Seebohm in his notes on the ornithology of Heligoland (Ibis, 1877, 

 pp. 156-165). It appears to me not impossible, however, that the bird in question may have 

 been Cinclus asiaticm. Cinclus jJallasii is easily recognizable, being deep reddish brown above 

 and below, and the tail and wings blackish brown ; Cinclus asiaticus is a paler bird, and has a 

 more slender bill. 



The young of all our European Dippers are variegated. 



