spot in which I have heard of a Dipper being seen was at
a water-mill tail at Wyrardisbury on the Colne, about two
or three hundred yards above the place at which it falls into
the Thames, just below Bell Weir. I t has also been seen on
the Mole, near Esher.
It is not uncommon in Devonshire and the eastern parts
of Cornwall, where, according to Mr. Couch, it is called the
Water Thrush. Mr. E. H. Rodd of Penzance says, it is
less frequent about the rivers of the western part of the
county ; which may in some measure be accounted for by the
streams in the west of Cornwall being strongly impregnated
by contact with mineral ore, and, in all probability, proving
equally destructive to aquatic insects as to fish. It is of frequent
occurrence in Wales ; and Mr. Thompson sends me
word that it is common throughout Ireland.
The Dipper has been seen in Essex, and occasionally in
Norfolk. In some parts of Cheshire, Derbyshire, and Yorkshire
it is not uncommon, and probably in all the counties
northward throughout Scotland; but I do not find it noticed
as inhabiting the Hebrides, Orkney, or Shetland. I t is
found in Scandinavia, Siberia, Russia, Germany, the Alps,
and Pyrenees. It is common in the northern parts of Spain,
where it is also called Water Thrush {Tordo de agua).
Keith Abbott, Esq. has forwarded specimens of this bird to
the Zoological Society from Trebizond, the most eastern
locality, as far as I am aware, that has been yet quoted for it.
The Dipper is secluded in its habits ; and it rarely happens
that more than two are seen together, except in summer,
when the parent birds are accompanied by their young. Its
flight is rapid and even, not unlike that of the Kingfisher;
and Mr. Gould, who has had opportunities of observing this
bird both in Wales and Scotland, informs me that its
song, though louder — its habit of elevating and jerking
its tail, its general manners, and the form as well as the
materials of its domed nest, all closely resemble those of
the Wren. It builds early, and conceals its large nest with
great art. If a cavity in a moss-covered rock is chosen, the
nest is formed of a mass of closely interwoven moss, seven or
eight inches deep, and ten or twelve inches in diameter, with
a hollow chamber in the centre lined with a few dry leaves,
to which access is gained by a small aperture through the
moss on one side. Sometimes the nest is placed under a projecting
stone, forming part of a cascade, and behind the sheet
of water that falls over it. The eggs are from four to six in
number, measuring one inch in length by nine lines in
breadth, pointed at the smaller end, and white.
Mr. Macgillivray, who has examined the contents of the
stomach in these birds on various occasions, has found only
beetles and the animals of fresh-water shells belonging to the
genera Lymnea and Ancylus: the larvae of various Ephemera
and Phryganea have also been mentioned, and those of other
aquatic insects. In some parts of Scotland this little bird
“ is destroyed by every device, from an idea that it feeds
upon the salmon spawn ; but this is not established.1-’
The beak is brownish black ; the irides hazel; the margin
of the eyelids white ; the head and neck to the commencement
of the back umber brown ; back, wings, and wing-
coverts, rump and tail-feathers, sides, flanks, and under tail-
coverts, brownish black ; the margins of the wing-coverts, and
the tips of the feathers of the body, of a lighter greyish black;
chin, neck, and upper part of the breast, pure white ; lower
part of the breast chestnut brown ; legs, toes, and claws,
brown. Females resemble the males.
The whole length of the specimen described measured
seven inches and one quarter. From the carpal joint to the
end of the wing, three inches and three-eighths ; the first
wing-feather less than half the length of the second, which is
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