C IN C L U S A Q tT A T I C U S .
CINCLUB) AQUATICUS.
Water-Ouzel or Dipper.
Siurtm cinclus, Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 290.
Turdus cmehts, Lath. Ind. Om., vol. i. p. 343.
Menlla aquatica, Briss. Om., tom. v. p. 252.
Cinclus aquation*. Bechst. Naturg. Deutsch., vol. iii. p. 808.
— melanogatler, Temm. ? '
In studying the habits and mode o f life of the Water-Ouzel, the ornithologist is often led into the most
romantic parts o f our island ; and if solitude and beautiful scenery be objects of attraction to him, he may
while away many hours in pleasurable delight when thus engaged. To say that the Water-Ouzel never
leaves the rivers springing from the high tors of Dartmoor and Derbyshire, the rocky rivers of Wales,
Cumberland, Westmoreland, and Yorkshire, and all similar localities throughout England, Scotland, and
Ireland, would be wrong ; for, although the bird mostly frequents such situations, it is sometimes found in
the small streams and rivers of other and less rocky parts o f England. I bave known a solitary individual
to be killed in the little river Chess, in Buckinghamshire ; it has also been seen in the Colne, and in the
slow-flowing rivers o f Lincolnshire and Norfolk. On the Continent, all countries o f a mountainous character,
from Spain and Italy to Norway and l-*pU»»d, are inhabited by Water-Ouwla. In Holland and the Low
Countries it is o f course not to be expected. Among fishermen it has :s. bad character, from their belief
that it feeds upon the ova of the trw i mn! m4skmi ; hence tn some parts ni it is destroyed by every
device: but the charge, tn my ope*orm, has not been e*«$bb«hed, »or bave I <.«!,. «iter taking considerable
pains to investigate the subject, to believe tb&T- jus*. During my visit, in November 1859, to
Penoyre, dm seat o f Colonel Hatkyns, on the river GdL rtv »«kcMAnwd* were very pleutifoi, and his keeper
informed me that they were sbeu trcdutg on Ha r< - > ; sde id the trout and salmon. By the
Colonel's desire, five »prciuMst* ***» shot for the puvpot*«: or ametitnmn^ by the truth o f this
assertion, but I found no trace »haîîVcî of ;pa*}« in either of them. Their hard gittzttrds were entirely
filled with larvoe o f Phryganea and the watvr hee.ik ( HydropMhu). One of them had a small Bull-head
(jCottiis gobio) in its throat, which the bird had doolrtle*s taken from under a stone. 1 suspect that insects
and their larvoe, with small shelled mollusks, constitute their principal food : and it may be that their labours
iu this way are rather beneficial than otherwise ; tor as many aquatic iusects will attack the ova and fry,
their destruction must be an advantage. I believe, indeed, that birds generally, nay always, do good rather
than harm in the check they give to the undue extension of insect life : and it is not a little interesting to
observe how their varied forms are adapted to this particular end ; there is no element, and scarcely a situation
in which iusects can live, that is out o f the reach of their more powerful enemies, the birds. This law of
adaptation I have repeatedly referred to in my work on the Trochilidse, where I have, among other examples,
shown that the stout Brugmanstoe, with lengthened tubular corollas, are resorted to by Humming-Birds
with enormously lengthened bills and still longer tongues, especially suited for the exploration of their
inmost recesses : while, on the other hand, the little Alpine flowers are visited by species with of the
most diminutive size. - The §w«Bbw skims the surface of the water, the more powerful Swift hawks in the
air, the little Willow-Wren ( Phy&ajmmtte trochiitu) investigates the foliage of trees, the Wren { Tmgloàytes
Européens) the mossy bank, all for the •mote end and purpose ; while in the Water-Ouzel we have a bird which
seeks its sustenance beneath the : — so that even in this element the bird and the insects are side by
side. In the diviug-habits o f the Waver ^ i we find a seeming reversal of the law of gravitation for as
the living bird is lighter than water, how ■ it able to descend and sustain itself at the bottom ? Some
assert that it is by clinging to the pebble* with its strong claws : others, by considerable exertion and a
rapid movement o f the wings, it* silky pi«««**«• is impervious to wet ; and hence, when the bird returns
to the surface, the pearly drops which roll off huo the stream are the only evidence of its recent subweruoo.
I t is, indeed, very interesting to observe this pretty bird walk down a stone, quietly descend into the water, raw
again perhaps a t the distance o f several yard* down the stream, and wing its way .back to the p h t t it had
ju st left, to perform the same manoeuvre ebe w i t minute, she silence of the interval broken by tis *
warbling song. The flight o f the WntcMHad is straight, low, and rapid—in fact, much like :b.v rd the
Kingfisher, which it also resembles in its wiiihrt habits. ' It is, however, seldom found in the smw
tions, the latter being a frequenter of rivers i f t h r o o g h a fertile eountr«, while the H ater ( W l pswwu
to the rapid and limpid streams which descend <■<-■ mountain-side* and run through | h s t a t f t t t r hoar