DIPPER or WATER-OUSEL, a bird about the size of a thrush, squatly built and of an active disposition. The dipper (Cinclus cinclus) haunts the rocky streams of Europe and North Asia. The dipper, belonging to a small family of its own, the Cinclidae, feeds upon small fresh-water molluscs and crustacea, which it cap tures under the water, walking along the bottom of the stream and aiding its progress with its wings. It can also swim on the surface of the water, despite the fact that its feet are not webbed. The upper parts are dark, the throat and breast white, and the belly has a chestnut band. Its ringing song may be heard even in winter. The white eggs, four to seven in number, are laid in a cup-shaped nest of grass, lined with dead leaves, and completely encased and domed with moss, except for a small hole to admit the bird. There are many Old World forms.
In North America, this species is replaced by C. mexicanus in the mountains of the west. The American bird lacks the white throat of the European form, which it otherwise resembles closely. The Costa Rican dipper (C. ardesiacus) of the highlands of Costa Rica and Chiriqui is similar, with the general colour a lighter gray.