058 
INSECTIVOROUS BIRDS. 
BLACK WATER-OUSEL, or DIPPER. 
( Cinclus Pallasii , Temm. Bonap. Am. Ora. 3. pi. 16. fig. 1. Phil. 
Museum, No. ) 
Bp. Charact. — "Wholly dark cinereous. 
This species, of a very remarkable genus, chiefly dis- 
tinguished from that of Europe by the absence of the 
white on the chin and throat, seems to have been first 
noticed by Pallas in the Crimea,* and afterwards by Mr. 
Bullock in Mexico, from whence it appears, by an ex- 
clusive interior route, to penetrate into the wild and re- 
mote interior of Canada as far as the shores of the Atha- 
baska lake, where the specimen was obtained which afford- 
ed the figure for Bonaparte’s splendid Continuation of the 
American Ornithology. 
Of the particular habits of this bird, nothing is yet 
known. The common European species are shy and sol- 
itary birds, dwelling near clear and tumultuous moun- 
tain streams, from the torrents of the Alps and Appen- 
nines, to the wilds of Scotland. It is also seen, even by 
the close of March, in Sweden, and Finland on the banks 
of the Tornea, near to cataracts, in the vicinity of the 
polar circle. f They are never seen to perch on branches, 
frequent the gravelly beds of rivulets strewn with rocks, 
and flit from stone to stone, at times, attentively watching 
their aquatic prey ; as soon as it is espied, they plunge 
after it, beneath the water to the bottom, and never 
hesitate to enter the stream, and precipitate themselves 
without fear or danger amidst the eddies of the brawling 
flood. They even nest, occasionally, in the cavities, be- 
* Bonaparte is of opinion that the specimens of Temminck, received from Pallas, 
were probably derived from America, and not from Tartary. 
f SkioldebramPs Picturesque Voyage to Cape North, p. 15, (French translation, ) 
