CINCLUS.
Allied to Wrens ; tail short ; bill straight with a slight upward bend from nostrils ; nest domed ; eggs white; frequent running water.
Cinclus cinclus cinclus (L.). DIPPER. Fr. Aguassiere ; Ger. \Vasserschwatzer ; 1/al. Merlo acquaiolo ; Swed. Strom stare.
9 Above slate grey with black scale-like margins ; crown, face, and hind neck chocolate brown ; throat and upper breast white ; flanks and under tail coverts slaty grey ; rest of underparts blackish brown, with a slight reddish tinge at junction with white of breast. Bill blackish. Legs and feet brown. Wing j 94-98, 9 88-91. Tarsus 28-3o (H.). Bill 14-16.
Breeds.—Scandinavia to above Arctic Circle, Lapland, Finland, Russia north to 65° and east to Urals, Baltic Provinces ; also Picos de Europa, N. Spain (\Vitherby). Chiefly resident ; a few occur in winter E. Russia and Germany, very rare elsewhere, several times in England, once in Shetland.
C. cinclus britannicus Tschusi. Above like "cinclus" but beneath there is a cinnamon band between the white breast and dark abdomen. \\Ting 87-95, 9 84-92.
Resident.—Great Britain.
C. cinclus hibernicus Hartert. Like " britannicus " but upper parts darker, less slate grey and cinnamon band between breast and abdomen narrower.
Resident.— Ireland.
C. cinclus pyrenaicus Dresser. Like " cinclus " but paler above, crown lighter and black margins narrower ; generally a little chestnut on lower breast, but often not.
Resident.—Pyrenees.
Spanish birds (C. and S. Spain) are redder on head and
have more chestnut on breast ; they do not agree with either aquaticus" or "meridionalis." C. cinclus aquaticus Bechstein. Very near " britannicus" but head is paler and margins on upper feathers narrower.
France (except S.E.), N. Switzerland, Germany, Poland, Carpathians, Transylvanian Alps, N. Rumania.
C. cinclus meridionalis Brehm. Close to "aquaticus" but crown and upper parts still paler, chestnut of under parts occasionally brighter and more extended, but not constant.
Resident. —S.E. France, S. Switzerland, Italy, Sicily, Austria, Croatia, Balkan Peninsula. Has occurred on Mediterranean Coast of Egypt.
"C. cinclus orientalis" Stresemann has been described from Macedonia ; head and neck darker and breast lighter than "meridionalis," but requires further confirmation.
C. cinclus sapsworthi Arrigoni. Beneath like " cinclus" ; above, crown and hind neck paler and greyer even than in " pyrenaicus." Wing Q 81-83 (H.).
Resident.—Corsica and Sardinia.
C. cinclus minor Tristram. Bill about 2 m.m. longer ; cinnamon band brighter and redder than in "meridionalis." Resident.—Atlas Mountains, Algeria and Morocco.
C. cinch's caucasicus Madarasz. Nearest to "aquaticus" but brown of breast and abdomen lighter, with a tinge of cinnamon nearest the white.
to N. and S.E. Persia, Asia Minor, Cyprus.