Cinclus melanogaster, Brehm. Lehrb. Eur. Vog. i. p. 289 (1823) ; Gould, B. of Gt. Brit. ii. pi. 42 ; Newton, i. p. 244 ; Dresser, ii. p. 177, pi.  20, fig. 2 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. vi. p. 311 ; Samiders, p. 97 ;
Lilford iii. p. 102, pi. 51.

Str&m&cer, Dan. ; Fossekal, Norweg. ; Stromstare, Swed. ; Koski- Jcara, Finn. ; Quoikgarek, Lapp ; Vodianoi-wrobei, Russ.

Ad. (Sweden). Crown and nape blackish brown ; wings and tail blackish brown, externally margined] with slate grey ; back dark slate grey, squamated with blackish ; throat, fore part of breast, and a small spot above and below the eye, pure white ; rest of under parts blackish brown, the flanks washed with slate grey ; bill blackish ; legs brown ; iris dark brown. Culmen 0’9, wings 3’7, tail, 2’25, tarsus T2 inch. The young bird has the upper parts dull slaty brown, the wing feathers tipped with white, the under parts white, barred with brown, flanks and anal regions slaty brown.
Hob. Scandinavia and Northern Europe, east to the Ural ; the Faeroes but not Iceland, in winter straying to N. Germany, Holland, Belgium, and England.
The Dippers, both the present species and its allies, are essentially water frequenters, living on running streams, especially where there are rapids and waterfalls. They are non-migratory only shifting their quarters in winter to lower altitudes when driven from their haunts by stress of weather. They dive with ease, and progress under water, using their wings as a mode of progression, and seek their food chiefly under water. They feed on aquatic insects of various kinds and their larvae, and do not, as has been asserted, devour the spawn of fish. Their flight is rapid and direct, usually not high above the surface of the water. Their call note is a sharp chit-chit, and their song is pleasing though short, reminding one of that of the Wren. The nest is usually domed, constructed of various kinds of mosses forming a close felted mass with the entrance-hole in front, and lined with grass stems rootlets and dead leaves. Cinclus albicollis is however said to build an open nest. The eggs 4 to 5 in number are pure white, glossy in texture of shell, rather elongated in shape averaging about TO by 0’73, and are deposited in March or April and two broods are usually reared in the season. The nest is carefully concealed, placed under shelter of an overhang- ing crag or rock close to the water, sometimes behind a small waterfall. Dippers being essentially non-migratory, isolation has caused the group to be separated into various local forms which have become permanently distinct and separated, though the differences are but slight ; but they do not appreciably differ in note, food, habits, or nidification, and it appears to me advisable to treat these as sub-species, which have probably descended from one parent ‘stock, most likely C. melanogaster.

SUBSP. CINCLUS AQUATICUS.

Chiclus aquaticus, Bechst. Orn. Taschenb. i. p. 206 (1802) ; Naumann, iii.p. 925, Taf. 91 ; Hewitson, i. p. 77, pi. xxii. ; Gould B. of E.    ii. pi. 83 ; Newton, i. p. 241 ; Dresser, ii. p. 167, pi. 19 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. vi. p. 307 ; Saunders, p. 97 ; Lilford, iii.  p. 99, pi. 50.
Aguassiere, Cincle-Plongeur, French ; Water spreeuw, Dutch ;
Wasseramsd, German.
Ad. (Scotland). Differs from C. melanogaster in having the lower breast rich rusty-red, this colour merging into the black of the rest of the under parts. Culmen 0’82 to 0’9, wing 3’25 to 3’6, tail 2’1 to 2 ‘45, tarsus 1’05 to 1’25 inch.
Hah. Great Britain and Ireland, France, Belgium, Holland, and Central Europe generally.

SUBSP. CINCLUS PYRENAICUS.

Cinclus pyrenaicus, Dresser, Ibis, 1892, p. 382.
Ad. (Pyrenees). Differs from C. melanoyaster, in having the wing shorter, the upper parts pale brown, especially the head and neck, and the under parts are paler and browner in tinge. Culmen 0*85, 0’95, wing 3’1 to 3-4, tail 2-0, tarsus 1-1 inch.
Hob. Pyrenees.

SUBSP. CINCLUS MINOR.

Cinclus minor, Tristram, Ibis, 1870, p. 497 ; Dresser, ix. p. 20.
Ad. (N. Africa). Eesembles C. pyrenaicus, but is rather more rufous on the under parts, and has a narrow dull rufous band bordering the white. Culmen 0’85, wing 3’2, tail 2’0, tarsus 1-15 inch.
Hob. Atlas Mountains N. Africa.

SUBSP. CINCLUS ALBICOLLIS.

Cinclus albicollis, (Vieill.) Nouv. Diet. d’Hist. Nat. i. p. 219 (1816) ;
Dresser, ii. p. 181, pi. 20, fig. 1 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. vi.  p. 310.
Ad. (N. Italy). Kesembles C. aquaticus, but has the upper parts paler and the breast much brighter rufous, this colour extending on to the abdomen. Culmen 0’85 to 0’9, wing 3’2 to 3’45, tail 2’0 to 2’4, tarsus 1-15 to 1-27 inch.
Hal. Switzerland Savoy and Southern Europe as far east as Greece and Turkey.

SUBSP. CINCLUS RUFIVENTRIS.

Cinclus rufiventris, Hempr. and Ehr. Sjmb. Phys. fol. 1. I. (1828) ;
Dresser, ix. p. 20.
Ad. Kesembles C. albicollis, but has the abdomen rufous brown, and the brown on the upper parts extend down to the interscapulary region without squamations, as in C. cashmiriensis. Culmen 0’87, wing 3’15, tail 2’l r tarsus 1*15. inch
Hal. Palestine.


SUBSP. CINCLUS CASHMIRIENSIS.

Cinclus cashmiriensis, Gould, P. Z. S. 1859, p. 489 ; id. B. of Asia, iv,
pi. 25 ; Dresser, ix. p. 17 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. vi. p. 312 ; Gates,
F.    Brit. Incl. Birds ii. p. 162.

Ad. (Transcaspia). Upper parts as in C. melanogaster, but rather paler, the brown extending over the interscapulary region, the squamations com- mencing only below that part ; under parts rather paler than in C. melano- (faster, and the flanks less grey. Culmen 0’8 to 39, wing 3’25 to 3*9, tail 1-1 to 3-5, tarsus 1’8 to 2’5 inch.
Hal. Asia Minor, the Caucasus, Persia, Afghanistan, and Kashmir, east as far as Chinese Mongolia.

SUBSP. CINCLUS BAICALENSIS.

Cinclus baicalensis, Dresser, Ibis, 1892, p. 385 ; id. B. of Eur. ix. p. 20.
Ad. (Lake Baikal). Differs from (7. cashmiriensis in having the upper parts of a peculiar velvety, mouse-brown colour, the head and neck paler than the back, the entire upper parts down to the rump mouse-brown unsquamated, the lower rump and upper tail-coverts alone being squamated or marked with, semicircular bars, and the dark portions of the under parts dull, dark-earth-brown. Culmen 0’8 to 0*9, wing 3’2 to 3*6, tail 2*0 to 2*1, tarsus VI to 1*15 inch.
Hob. Siberia, in the Baikal district.

SUBSP. ClNCLUS LEUCOGASTER.

“ Cinclus leucogaster Eversm.” Bonap. Consp. Gen. Av. i. p. 252 (1850) ;
Gould, B. of Asia, iv. p. 24 ; Dresser ix. p. 20 ; Tacz. F. 0. Sib., 0.  p. 211.
Ad. (Dauria). Differs from C. baicalensis in having the head and neck paler, and the under parts down to the vent white, excepting the flanks, which are brown. Culmen 0’8 to 0’9, wing 3 -25 to 3 ‘85, tail 2’0 to 2’4, tarsus I’l to 1’25 inch.
Hob. Altai range, Turkestan, Mongolia, and the countries north of Kashmir, ranging into the Baikal district.

SUBSP. CINCLUS SATURATUS.

Cinclus saturates, Dresser, ix. p. 20 (1895). C. sordidus, (nee. Gould), Tacz. F. 0. Sib., 0. p. 214.
Ad. (Baikal District). Differs from C. baicalensis in having the white on the throat and breast obscured by brown so that the separts are whity- brown and not white. Culmen V2, wing 3*7, tail 2*35, tarsus 1*12 inch.
Hob. Irkutsk to the Baikal district, to S.W. Kansu and N, Tibet.
This is evidently the Cinclus sordidus of Russian authors, for the type was sent to me from Russia, as belonging to that species, from which, however, it differs considerably.