dipper. 
CINCLUS AQUATICUS. 
A difference of opinion formerly existed concerning these singular birds. Dippers were declared by 
certain observers to be prejudicial to the spawn and fry of fish, while others asserted they were not only 
perfectly harmless, but of the greatest service to the rivers, feeding constantly on various kinds of destructive 
insects. 
According to my own experience, water-beetles, as well as minute shell-fish, together with insects of 
several species and possibly their larvae, form their chief diet ; whether the shells are swallowed to assist 
digestion or as a means of nourishment I can offer no opinion. At times, during winter and early spring, 
I have watched single birds by the pools of salt water on the shores of the Scotch firths, and, judging by 
their actions, there was little doubt they were in quest of food*. A specimen I obtained on the river Lyon, 
in Perthshire, in the autumn of 18G5, was stated by a taxidermist to contain the remains of several beetles as 
well as a small quantity of other matter, though, owing to decomposition having set in, lie failed to identify many 
minute particles. By those who were desirous of substantiating a charge, 1 have been assured that these birds 
have been both seen and shot while in possession of small fish. This, of course, must be taken for what it 
is worth ; there is, however, not the slightest doubt that their presence on the water is beneficial rather than 
otherwise. As a proof of the ignorance existing within the last ten years regarding the habits of this species, 
I ascertained, in more than one district, that both keepers and water-bailiffs had received orders to shoot 
them down, as a means of affording protection to the spawn of the fish. 
Though the Dipper is by no means scarce on many of our English streams and rivers in the midland 
and northern counties, I have had by far the most opportunities of studying their habits along the rocky 
burns of the Highlands. In this part of the country they are widely distributed, being found in almost 
every suitable locality. During spring and summer each pair may usually he seen in the vicinity of their 
accustomed haunts, seldom straying to any considerable distance. Severe frost, however (occasionally, though 
by no means often), causes them to make a move and shift their quarters : at such times I have now and 
then caught a glimpse of the dingy little bird while flitting from pool to pool along the shores of the salt-water 
estuaries. When gunning on the coast of the Dornoch Eirth in the winters of 18G8 and 1SG9, a bird or 
two were passed almost daily near Morangie; and a couple of pairs (though seldom if ever seen in company) 
resorted to the mouths of the small burns between that spot and Bonar Bridge. 
Along the sluggish rivers and deep muddy-water dykes of Norfolk the Dipper is occasionally to be met 
with, two or three specimens having come under my observation in the eastern portion of the county in 1871 
and 1872. The birds were noticed in every instance late in autumn; and as few spots could be found in 
this quarter adapted to their nesting-requirements, it is probable they were simply visitors from across the 
* In order to ascertain what prey had been secured, I frequently attempted to obtain a shot at one of these birds : the spots on which they 
were usually observed, however, were too open to permit a near approach. 
