DirPER 
57 
or wall. It is substantially built, chiefly of moss, 
with dry twigs, especially elm-twigs, as an outside 
stiffening, and lined with wool and hair. The four 
or five eggs are of a very beautiful blue, darker 
than most other blue eggs, and with less of a tinge 
of green. Few of our birds wander less from their 
haunts at the different seasons of the year ; this 
may be partly due to the weakness of the Hedge- 
sparrow's flight, though weak flight by no means 
always prevents great journeys, as we see in the case 
of the Chiff-chaff, Sedge Warbler, and many 
such small birds, as well as the larger Landrail, 
which winter hundreds or even thousands of miles 
away. The local name of " Shufflewing draws 
attention to the Hedge-sparrow's odd habit of 
quivering and fretting its half-open wings as it hops 
about the margins of the hedges. 
DIPPER. 
(Cinclus aquaticus,') 
Water Ouzel, Brook Ouzel, Water Crow. — 
The Dipper is the bird which is more characteristic 
than any other of the rocky, tumbling streams of 
the hilly countries of the North and West, and it 
would seem almost as out of place by a brook in 
the level meadows of Hampshire or Suffolk as a 
