AMERICAN DIPPER. 
188 
shifts its station to any great extent, excepting during continued frosts, when 
it descends along the streams, and is seen flitting about by the rapids and 
falls. Mill-dams are also favourite resorts, especially in winter and spring. 
On lakes having a muddy or peaty bottom I have never observed it ; but it 
may sometimes be seen on those which are shallow and pebbly at the 
margins, as on St. Mary’s Loch in Yarrow, where I have shot it. 
“ The flight of the Dipper is steady, direct, and rapid, like that of the 
Kingfisher, being effected by regularly timed and quick beats of the wings, 
without intermissions or sailings. It perches on stones or projecting crags 
by the sides of streams, or in the water, where it may be seen frequently 
inclining the breast downwards, and jerking up the tail, much in the manner 
of the Wheatear and Stonechat, and still more of the Wren ; its legs bent, 
its neck retracted, and its wings slightly drooping. It plunges into the 
water, not dreading the force of the current, dives, and makes its way 
beneath the surface, generally moving against the stream, and often with 
surprising speed. It does not, however, immerse itself head foremost from 
on high like the Kingfisher, the Tern, or the Gannet ; but either walks out 
into the water, or alights upon its surface, and then plunges like an Auk or 
a Guillemot, slightly opening its wings, and disappearing with an agility and 
dexterity that indicate its proficiency in diving. I have seen it moving 
under water in situations where I could observe it with certainty, and I 
readily perceived that its actions were precisely similar to those of the 
Divers, Mergansers, and Cormorants, which I have often watched from an 
eminence, as they pursued the shoals of sand-eels along the sandy shores of 
the Hebrides. It in fact flew, not merely using the wing, from the carpal 
joint, but extending it considerably and employing its whole extent, just as 
if advancing in the air. The general direction of the body in these circum- 
stances is obliquely downwards; and great force is evidently used to coun- 
teract the effects of gravity, the bird finding it difficult to keep itself at the 
bottom, and when it relaxes its efforts coming to the surface like a cork. 
Montagu has well described the appearance which it presents under such 
circumstances : — ‘ In one or two instances, where we have been able to 
perceive it under water, it appeared to tumble about in a very extraordinary 
manner, with its head downwards, as if picking something ; and at the same 
time great exertion was used, both by the wings and legs.’ This tumbling, 
however, is observed only when it is engaged in a strong current, and its 
appearance is greatly magnified by the unequal refraction caused by the 
varying inequalities of the surface of the water. When searching for food, 
it does not proceed to great distances under water; but, alighting on some 
spot, sinks, and soon reappears in the immediate neighbourhood, when it 
cither dives again, or rises on wing to drop somewhere else on the stream 
