DIPPER. (1) A small, somewhat thrush like bird of the family Chu:lithe. having an al most straight. eompressed, sharp-pointe.d bill: compact, waterproof plumage, and extraordinary habit.. Dippers frequent clear, pebbly .rrentn and lakes. feeding: chiefly on mollusks and on aquatic insects and their larvae, which they sock even under water, diving with great feteilitv, and moving about for a short time at the bot tom of the water. They carry their rather short Lois elm atcd alter the manner of wrens, they also resemble in their 'frequent 'Jerks.' or dipping of the head accompanied w ith an up maid Jerking in the tail. The common European dipp,r. water or water-crow t('iaeins aqua ti•a(:), is a bird smaller than any of the British thrushes, of a generally dark-brown color, with throat and upper part of breast pure white. It is found chiefly in hilly or Ittiniti ill( MS 1.11 is not gregarious. The dipper timer fails to nttract notice, as it site upon some stone in the midst of or beside the stream, its white bread rendering it conspicuous as it repeats (he move from which it derives its It builds cry curious nest of OVell moss, dinned and with the entrance in the side. usually in
some mossy hank chose by a stream. and often near or under a ea-wade. The egg,: are pure V. hit e. The assertion that the dipper walks with out apparent muscular (diort at the bottom of the water is incorrect; its feet are not well formed fur walking. and it scrambled about under water by help of its short wings. The statement, also often Made, that it eats the spawn of salmon and other fishes, in the belief of which it is much persecuted in Scotland, has provtsl erroneous. _Vault twelve species of dipper are known, one of which ( ('inclus Mexicanus) is found in the moun tains of western North America from Alaska to .lexieo; this lacks the pure white under parts of 1 he European species. but (otherwise resembles it elosely. Its habits have been eloquently de scribed toy Muir. in •"I'lle Ilumming-Itird of the Californian Waterfalls," an illustrated article im Sr•ribmr's .11withly (New York, 1.+78). Con sult, also, ]Geyser, Birds of the Rockies (Chi 1902).
12) The bufflehead, or spirit-duck. See RUFFLE