ornithologist's text-book. 69 



tail, and ever and anon jerking round as if half 

 astonished, half inviting. So onward they fare, till 

 they come to a bolder and tougher stratum which 

 has obstructed the stream, but at the same time 

 given it fall and force to scoop out a pool below, 

 which though it boils where the cascade plunges 

 (or rather where it rises again), is placid compared 

 with the brawlings that have been passed. The 

 water merely laves a beach of clean pebbles, the 

 rocks on the other side are 4 sky high,' without 

 footing even for a bird; and the breast, over which 

 the water dashes, seems too high for a thing so 

 hopping and badly winged. The bird halts on the 

 beach ; and forward he rushes, hat in hand, to the 

 capture ; but the wet stones are treacherous, end- 

 long he falls, dips himself, and rising sees the hat 

 which was to capture the bird, whirling round and 

 round in the eddies. The bird too, has vanished — 

 it is ' a sprite' to wile him into peril. But it soon 

 4 bobs' to the surface, at the lower end of the pool 

 on the other side, with its feathers dry without any 

 shaking off of the water, and leaping first on one 

 stone and then another, it descends the ravine 

 with the same nonchalance that it ascended. To 

 recover the hat is a much more arduous matter 

 than to lose the bird; but that too may be accom- 

 plished with one of the long suckers of hazel which 

 grow from the tangled and gnarled stool on the 

 bank, though if the hold be not taken warily and 

 kept carefully, there may be a second dipping — 

 and yet no Dipper to boast of. 



" The Dipper is, in fact, a very curious bird, and 

 it is more gratifying to watch the manoeuvres of 

 one, than to be in possession of the bodies or skins 

 of fifty. Its food is water flies, water larva?, water 

 insects, worms, and dragon flies, water beetles, and, 

 in short, a variety of animals and animal matters 

 found in the waters. The fry of the trout and 



