DIPPERS: WATER-OUZEL 
531 
DIPPERS: Family Cinclidae 
The semi-aquatic Dippers, getting their food largely under water, 
have compact, dense, water-proof plumage underlaid with oily down, 
nostrils protected by a large scale, and tail short, almost hidden by its 
coverts; being non-migratory and making only short flights, like the 
Quail and Grouse they have short, stiff, rounded wings, concave beneath; 
and as they habitually walk about on wet slippery rocks, the middle 
toe has its basal half united to the outer toe, a little less to the inner 
toe, the claws are strongly curved, the claw of the middle toe with its 
inner edge more or less produced, sometimes slightly nicked or pectinate. 
AMERICAN DIPPER; WATER-OUZEL: Cinclus mexicanus unlcolor Bonaparte 
Plates 55 and 56 
Description. — Length: 7-8.5 inches, wing 3.4-3.S, tail 1.9-2.1, bill .6-.7, tarsus 
1-1.2. Adults in summer: Slate-gray, paler below, head and neck faintly tinged 
with brown, tail feathers and primaries dark brown. Adxdts in winter: Underparts 
and tips of inner primaries margined with whitish, eyelids narrowly marked with 
white (Ridgway). Young: Similar to winter adults but crown gray, throat mainly 
whitish, rest of underparts more or less huffy. 
Range. —Iludsonian, Canadian, and Transition Zones in mountains of western 
North America from near tree limit in northwestern Alaska, British Columbia, and 
west-central Alberta south to southern New Mexico, Arizona (rarely), and northern 
Lower California. 
State Records. —[The American Dipper, or Water-Ouzel, is common and widely 
distributed throughout the mountainous regions of northern New Mexico, but 
also breeds along suitable watercourses at altitudes ranging from 9,200 down to 
7,000 feet, and as far south as Reserve (Ligon, 1919). A nest with five fresh eggs 
was found, April 25, 1916, near the head of the Nigreto, 23 miles southeast of 
Reserve, at 7,400 feet. It nests commonly on the headwaters of the Pecos and 
other streams heading in the Pecos Mountains, and also on the Upper Rio Grande. 
Young were found out of the nest near the junction of the Hondo and Rio Grande 
June 3, 1916 (Ligon)J. Eggs were found, May 3-16, 1S98, in the Sangre de Cristo 
Mountains above Las Yegas (Mitchell). In July, 1904, it was found in Wheeler 
Peak amphitheater at 11,400 feet. In the Pecos region, on the Rio Media, during 
July and August, 1903, it was seen as high as 10,000 feet (Bailey). [It was observed 
on the head of Red River, June 19 and 20, at 10,000-11,000 feet, and in Uraca 
canyon southwest of Cimarron, June 16, 1924, at about 8,500 feet (Ligon).1 During 
the summer it is found at S,000 feet at Halls Peak (Barber); and down to 7,200 
feet on the Pecos River below El Macho (Bailey). The most southeastern record 
in the State is that of one taken August 20, 1898, at Ruidoso (Barber). 
If it performs any migration in New Mexico, it is merely a moving up the 
mountains in summer and descending toward the foothills in winter, but even 
this movement must be comparatively slight, for the summer and winter limits 
are not greatly different except in the higher mountains of the Sangre de Cristo 
Range. 
In the fall it was seen on September 25, 1903, as high as 11,600 feet on a glacial 
lake above Hondo Canyon; and at about 9,500 feet, on a lake at Twining, October 
16, 1903; though not seen after that date. One was still present October 27, 1906, 
at 8,500 feet on Mogollon Creek (Bailey); and one seen, October 20, 1906, on Silver 
Creek (Stafford). 
