5°8 
PERCHING BIRDS. 
similar in size and shape to the European species. The whole of the twelve 
known species are included in the genus Cinclus. The mountain-streams of 
Europe are all frequented by one or other form of the white-breasted dippers, 
which agree in habits wherever they are found. The busy, bustling dipper is 
occasionally to be seen sporting upon the seashore at the mouth of some fresh¬ 
water burn; but we connect it more naturally with the eddying rapids of the 
salmon river, or the rippling waters of the fellside beck. The common dipper 
(■Cinclus aquaticus ) of Western Europe is a very early breeder, building at the 
end of winter, sometimes in the branches or the roots of a tree, but generally 
beneath a bridge, or overhanging rock. The nest is constructed of fine stems of 
grass, lined with dead leaves, and enclosed in a beautifully formed case of green 
moss; the eggs being pure white. Although the dipper delights in frosty 
weather, its song may be heard at any season of the year. Whether the loosened 
ice be floating down the river, or the flowering of the pilewort in the hedgeside 
afford an omen that the present is the time to pair, the dipper is ever a perfect 
embodiment of grace combined with indomitable energy. Retaining a spirit 
unsoured and unchafed by the petty disappointments of life, nothing ever seems to 
come amiss to him. When the redwing hops dolefully across the snowdrift, and 
famishing rooks fall with beak and nail upon weaker birds, the dipper preserves 
his equanimity intact, and manages to secure an easy competency. The adult has 
the upper-parts slaty grey; the head brown; the chin, throat, and upper breast 
pure white; and the rest of the lower-parts chestnut-brown, varying much in 
intensity. The European species is replaced in the Himalaya by the brown 
dipper (C. asiaticus), which is found at elevations from one to fourteen 
thousand feet, according to the season. This dipper lays at very different 
periods, according to elevation, sometimes nesting as early as December; the nests 
found by Mr. Hume were large balls of moss, wedged into clefts of moss and fern- 
covered rocks, the one, half under a little cascade, the other about a foot above 
the water’s edge in the side of a rock standing in the midst of a broad, deep 
stream. The eggs are pure white, similar to those of the European dipper, but 
smaller. The adult male has the entire plumage chocolate-brown, with the edges of 
the feathers somewhat paler in places, the eyelids are covered with white feathers, 
and the wings and tail are dark brown. 
The Wrens. 
Family TROGLOD YTIDjE. 
The wrens are a group of very small birds, showing a considerable variety of 
form among upwards of a hundred representatives. They are characterised by a 
moderate or slender bill, either straight or slightly curved; the nostrils being 
narrow, or broadly oval, and exposed; while the wings are short and generally 
rounded; and the tail of variable length, often rounded, and frequently carried 
over the back. These birds are most abundantly represented in South America, 
but have their typical representatives both in North America and the northern 
parts of the Old World. Certain forms are also found in the Himalaya and Tibet, 
