yellow, tinged with green, and still retaining faint indications
of darker streaks in the direction of the shafts of
the feathers.
It seems that the male does not obtain its brilliant yellow
and black plumage until the third year, and according to
information received from the late Mr. Hoy, “ some pairs
are observed breeding, in which you can scarcely distinguish
male from female ; others still further advanced, but the
plumage is not bright.” This, it will be observed, is in
accordance with the descriptions here given as those of the
second and third summer.
The Oriole so frequently received from India, Oriolus
huncloo, which is by some considered to he identical with the
bird under description, is, however, distinct, and may be
immediately recognized by having the dark mark behind
the eye, reaching to some distance above the ear coverts;
the wing is also much shorter, not reaching near so far
towards the end of the tail, and the bill proportionally
longer.
C in c l u s a q u a t ic u s , Bechstdn*.
THE DIPPER.
Cinclus aquations.
C in c lu s , Bechstein f . — Bill moderate, slightly ascending, angular and higher
than broad at the base ; straight, compressed and rounded near the tip : the
upper mandible slightly decurving at the point. Nostrils basal, lateral, placed
in a depression, cleft longitudinally, partly covered by a membrane. Gape very
narrow, and not furnished with bristles. Wiiigs short, broad and convex : the
first feather very sh o rt; the second not so long as the third or fourth, which are
nearly equal. Tail short. Legs feathered to the tibio-tarsal jo in t; tarsus
longer than the middle toe ; the lateral toes equal in length ; the outer toe
slightly connected with the middle toe. The whole body closely covered with
down. Sternum with the posterior margin entire.
C o n s id e r a b l e interest is attached to the natural history
of the Dipper, or Water-Ouzel, from the diversity of opinions
that have existed in reference to its power not only of diving,
which was believed by some to be accomplished without any
* Ornithologisches Taschenbuch, i. p. 206 (1802). f Tom. cit. p. 205.
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