PAL EAS DIPPER 351 
take advantage of mills, bridges, or other works of man. The 
nest is large, composed of moss, and vaulted above ; the eves 
are from four to six, and of a milky white. Though very 
carefully hid, it may be easily discovered by the incessant 
chirping of the young. 
Having seen nothing but the dried skin cf the American 
dipper, and being utterly unacquainted with its habits, we 
have been describing as common to the genus those of the 
European species, which are well known, and which we have 
stopped to watch and admire among the precipices of the Alps 
and Apennines, where it struggles with the steepest and most 
noisy cascades and the wildest torrents. The exceedingly 
great similarity of form in the two species strongly warrants 
the belief of equal similarity in habits. The more uniform 
and cinereous hue of the American, the want of reddish, but 
especially the striking absence of the white on the throat and 
breast, are the sole, but sufficient marks of difference between 
the two species. 
Pallas’ dipper is longer than the common species, measuring 
eight and a half inches. ‘The bill is perfectly similar, and 
three-quarters of an inch long, blackish, paler beneath and on 
the edges. The whole bird, without any exception, is of a 
dark greyish slate colour, with the base of the plumage some- 
what lighter; at the superior orbit is a slight indication of 
whitish. The uniform general colour is somewhat darker on 
the head, and a shade lighter beneath. The wings are three 
and a half inches long, as in the genus; the coverts and ter- 
tials slightly tipt with dingy whitish; the primaries incline 
somewhat to brown ; the tail measures one inch and a half, 
and is perfectly even. The feet are of a flesh-colour, and the 
nails dusky white ; the tarsus is precisely one inch long. 
If we could rely on Brehm, four species of this genus exist, 
which are all found in the old continent. ‘lwo are new ones, 
proposed by himself, under the names of Cinclus septentrion- 
alis, and Cinclus melanogaster. he latter, according to him, 
is a Siberian species, appearing occasionally on the northern 
