The American Dipper 
Taken in Fresno County Photo by the Author 
A BIT UNDECIDED 
of suspense, he bursts out of the seething waters a dozen feet below, 
and flits back to his rock, chuckling cheerily. This time, it may be 
he will rest, and you have opportunity to note the slightly retrousse 
aspect of the beak in its attachment to the head. The bird has stopped 
springing now, and stands as stolid as an Indian, save as ever and again 
he delivers a slow wink, upside down, with the white nictitating membrane. 
Some discussion has been evoked as to the Ouzel’s mode of pro¬ 
gression in or under the water, and I was inclined myself, for some years, 
to believe that the bird did not use its wings, save in reaching the surface 
of the water when the bottom of the stream had been quitted. But 
the evidence seems to be against me. The fact is that the bird pro¬ 
gresses by all means, or any. It is absolutely at home over, on, in, or 
under the water. Sometimes it lights upon the surface of a stream and 
paddles about quietly, using only its feet for propulsion. Again, or 
when “game” is sighted, it flounders about rapidly by means of its 
wings; and it is certain that in diving the wings are chiefly relied on. 
The breasting of a mountain stream is no longer an adventure to be 
entered upon circumspectly. The water is the bird’s instinctive refuge 
733 
