BIRDS. 



245 



penetrate up the higher valleys among the hills of the Cam dis- 

 tricts, and indeed up all the mountain glens and wooded valleys, 

 and are even found higher, above the growth of the highest 

 birch. Thus in 1893 Hinxman found it nesting amongst juniper 

 at the head of Loch Builg— 1600-1700 feet. 



Family CINCLIDiE. 



Cinclus aquaticus, Bechst. Dipper. 



Local Names. — Water Cockie, Ess-Cock, Water-craw. 



Common and resident, as long at least as their haunts are not 

 frozen ; in this latter case they take kindly to the sea-shore in 

 the vicinity of the river-mouths. From the fact of the Ness never 

 freezing, that river is a great haunt of theirs in the winter, 

 and they may be seen all along the river-edge near the town of 

 Inverness, running and diving, bringing up some large insects to 

 the top to eat. At other times they fly over the river and light 

 with a splash in the heaviest current, diving do^Ti for their food 

 there as easily as in the slower-running parts, though of course 

 they are often carried a long distance down from where they 

 entered the water. 



Strangely enough, Hepburn remarked that he never met with 

 the Dipper during his \'isit to Invemess-shire in 1847, and attributed 

 their absence to the scarcity of fresh-water Mollusca, which he could 

 not find in his one or two very hurried searches for them. We 

 met with them ourselves at Guisachan, which is in the wilds of 

 Inverness-shire, so that they may have largely extended their 

 range during the last half-century. 



The Dipper is most abundant in the Cam districts of Moray, 

 and along the tributary streams, but common also on the Deveron 

 and all the rockier rivers. It is less common in Speyside and 

 Strathspey, yet not to be called rare, even on the main stream. 

 It nests under the arches or timber of bridges, against the faces of 

 rocks overhanging the streams, or higher up amongst the tinier 

 rills and bums, even amongst overhanging heather, under the con- 

 tracted banks of peat, which nearly meet over the dribbling stre<im 

 beneath. Such nests we have found far away up the hillsides, 

 above the 1000 feet level. On few rivers have we seen Dippers 



