702 
BIRD-LIFE. 
sing defiance to such wretchedly inclement weather. 
Anyone blessed with a sharp eye will soon discover the 
songster, though an unpractised hand or short-sighted 
person may look a long time before he sees him, ensconced 
where least expected. Close to the edge of the open 
water, on a block of ice or in a hollow amongst the stones, 
may be seen sitting, a pretty, grayish bird with a dazzling 
white breast, which, though only half concealed, so 
matches the colouring which surrounds it that it can 
scarcely be distinguished. This bird is about the size of 
a Starling, on which account it is sometimes called the 
Water Starling in Germany; in form it has some 
resemblance to the Thrushes, hence it is occasionally 
named Water Thrush or Water Ouzel, though in reality 
it differs so essentially from either Starling or Thrush 
that it cannot in any way be confounded, by a careful 
observer, with either of them. There is only one bird to 
which it may be compared, and that is the Wren. The 
shape is the same; and the bright ways, cheery courage, 
and contented mien of the Dipper, are also identical with 
those of the Wren. The one is “ king of the hedge,” and 
the other “ king of the mountain burn.” 
Few birds show so much activity and mobility as does 
the Dipper: it cannot remain still even for a moment, 
and when it appears to be so, it is either turning its head 
or raising and lowering its little bit of a tail. Usually, 
however, it rarely remains perched long on the same 
spot: sometimes it is seen running with rapid steps over 
the most slippery of ice-hummocks; at others it dives 
head first into the clear liquid wave, passing some con¬ 
siderable time below, now running on the bottom, now 
swimming for some distance even underneath the 
ice; at other times it races rapidly along the strand, 
