AMERICAN DIPPER. 183 



shifts its station to any great extent, excepting during continued frosts, when 

 it descends along the streams, and is seen flitting about by the rapids and 

 falls. Mill-dams are also favourite resorts, especially in winter and spring. 

 On lakes having a muddy or peaty bottom I have never observed it; but it 

 may sometimes be seen on those which are shallow and pebbly at the 

 margins, as on St. Mary's Loch in Yarrow, where I have shot it. 



"The flight of the Dipper is steady, direct, and rapid, like that of the 

 Kingfisher, being effected by regularly timed and quick beats of the wings, 

 without intermissions or sailings. It perches on stones or projecting crags 

 by the sides of streams, or in the water, where it may be seen frequently 

 inclining the breast downwards, and jerking up the tail, much in the manner 

 of the Wheatear and Stonechat, and still more of the Wren; its legs bent, 

 its neck retracted, and its wings slightly drooping. It plunges into the 

 water, not dreading the force of the current, dives, and makes its way 

 beneath the surface, generally moving against the stream, and often with 

 surprising speed. It does not, however, immerse itself head foremost from 

 on high like the Kingfisher, the Tern, or the Gannet; but either walks out 

 into the water, or alights upon its surface, and then plunges like an Auk or 

 a Guillemot, slightly opening its wings, and disappearing with an agility and 

 dexterity that indicate its proficiency in diving. I have seen it moving 

 under water in situations where I could observe it with certainty, and I 

 readily perceived that its actions were precisely similar to those of the 

 Divers, Mergansers, and Cormorants, which I have often watched from an 

 eminence, as they pursued the shoals of sand-eels along the sandy shores of 

 the Hebrides. It in fact flew, not merely using the wing, from the carpal 

 joint, but extending it considerably and employing its whole extent, just as 

 if advancing in the air. The general direction of the body in these circum- 

 stances is obliquely downwards; and great force is evidently used to coun- 

 teract the effects of gravity, the bird finding it difficult to keep itself at the 

 bottom, and when it relaxes its efforts coming to the surface like a cork. 

 Montagu has well described the appearance which it presents under such 

 circumstances: — "In one or two instances, where we have been able to 

 perceive it under water, it appeared to tumble about in a very extraordinary 

 manner, with its head downwards, as if picking something; and at the same 

 time great exertion was used, both by the wings and legs." This tumbling, 

 however, is observed only when it is engaged in a strong current, and its 

 appearance is greatly magnified by the unequal refraction caused by the 

 varying inequalities of the surface of the water. When searching for food, 

 it does not proceed to great distances under water; but, alighting on some 

 spot, sinks, and soon reappears in the immediate neighbourhood, when it 

 either dives again, or rises on wing to drop somewhere else on the stream, 



