THE DIPPER, OR WATER OUZEL. 705 
very colouring tends to this purpose; its snow-wliite 
breast is like the balls of foam; the brownish red of the 
belly resembles the stones at the bottom of the brook ; 
the bluish gray of the back, the water; whilst the head 
and neck closely imitate the tints of the boughs, roots, 
and stones; added to which the bird is enveloped in a 
coat of feathers, so compact as to defy the penetrating 
powers of the element it inhabits. Thus armed it needs 
no art to capture its prey, especially when the bird’s 
extreme activity in the water is taken into consideration. 
Thus the Dipper is never in want of food; even in the 
hardest winter it can always find sufficient for its modest 
requirements. 
If suddenly surprised it generally darts into the water 
like a frog, swims along the bottom for some distance, 
and then rising to the surface to breathe, looks around, 
when, if not satisfied that the object of its distrust has 
departed, it dives again, and swims still further on, 
till it climbs up suddenly on to a stone, and either 
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pursues its road on the wing or—considering itself secure 
—proceeds with its fishing undisturbed. 
The Dipper begins building its first nest in the middle 
of March, for it breeds twice during the year. This 
habitation is always placed in a hole or cavity near the 
water, and generally in a place difficult of access. It 
makes use of the peculiarities of the situation to the best 
advantage and in the cleverest manner possible: a con¬ 
veniently-situated hollow, a hole in the brick-work of a 
bridge, the floats of a disused or ruined mill-wheel, the 
stones in a weir, even though it be forced to fly through 
the water rushing over the same to reach its nest, are all 
made use of as breeding-places; a rift in the perpendicular 
rock, with the water flowing at its base, is a locality 
