646 Birds. 



brown colour, having their broader ends encircled by a ring of small 

 red spots and stripes. The young were fledged by the 2nd of June. 

 This bird has no song, but occasionally gives utterance to a broken 

 and abrupt cry, rather louder and more harsh than that of a house- 

 sparrow. It is also restless and unsettled, changing its situation on 

 the top of one bush for the uppermost twig of another. Its flight is 

 performed in an uneasy and irregular manner : the bird takes three or 

 four strokes together, very quickly, then springs forward, and may rea- 

 dily be distinguished in flight by these actions. 



Pied flycatcher, Muscicapa atricapilla. Very rare throughout 

 Derbyshire. Some years ago a specimen killed near Alderwasley was 

 shown to me ; and I have once observed it near Melbourne. 



Dipper, Turdus Cincla. The Dipper ranks amongst our feathered 

 tribes, being found occasionally upon the Trent and Derwent, and 

 sometimes in the Peak, upon the brilliant streams which play amongst 

 wild dells, and fall over straggling rocks and moss-clad stones. A 

 pair were killed off the Trent in January, 1836; and on January 12, 

 1841, I noticed three pairs upon the river, the waters being at that 

 time partly frozen over, and snow lying on the ground to the depth 

 of twelve or fourteen inches. They were swimming on the surface of 

 the stream, and at intervals dived into the deeps, keeping under wa- 

 ter about seven seconds each time, and rising to the surface about five 

 yards above the spot whence they disappeared. When alarmed they 

 will keep under water more than a minute, and dive during that pe- 

 riod more than fifty yards. They are extremely shy and vigilant in 

 their habits, being very difficult to shoot, for they perceive the least 

 motion of the hand or body, and immediately disappear. They are 

 not unfrequently taken by poachers in their nets, during the summer 

 months, and sold to bird-preservers. Some few pairs are known to 

 reside south of the Trent the year through, and yet the nest is never 

 found ; nevertheless, it seems probable that they do breed. North of 

 the Trent, it breeds annually, particularly among the wilds and fast- 

 nesses of our rude Peak hills. When a schoolboy at Darley-dale (a 

 valley which is in beautiful contrast to many of the wilder ones in 

 Derbyshire, and which mark the course of its mountain rivers), I re- 

 member a party of us finding a nest of this bird by the brink of a 

 rocky stream, a few miles distance from the village. It was situate 

 on a ledge of stone underneath a rude bridge thrown across the stream, 

 being composed of short green moss, closely enwoven together, and 

 contained two eggs of pure white. It was considered a great rarity 

 in the neighbourhood. J. J. Briggs. 



King's Newton, Melbourne, May 20, 1844. 



