Gen. Hydrobata, Vieillot.

Syn. Cinclus, Bechst. - Water-ouzel, or Dipper. Char. - Bill of moderate length, nearly equal to the head, straight, cultrate, slightly ascending; no rictal bristles; nostrils marginal, longitudinal; wings concave, 1st very short, 3rd and 4th sub-equal and longest; 2nd scarcely shorter; tail short and even; tarsus moderate, longer than middle toe; feet moderate; lateral toes nearly equal, hind toe short; claws tolerably curved.

The Dippers are one of the most interesting groups of birds among the whole class of Perchers, from their well known and peculiar habits of procuring their food under water. They are birds of rapid flight, and are believed to use their wings for progression under water. They form a large nest of moss and grass, with a hole at one side, placed on a bank of a stream, among the roots of a tree, or a crevice in a rock, and have five or six white eggs. They are said, in Europe, to have two or three broods in the course of the year. Most modern systematists agree in placing them close to Pitta, and in the same family. Bonaparte makes a distinct family, Cinclidae, in which he classes Eupetes (a remarkable Malayan bird), Grallina, Enicurus, Hydrobata, and Zuothera, placing the family between Motacillidae and Pittidae. Eupetes, with a Cincline bill, has the highly rounded wings, &c, brown and dense flimsy plumage, of a Timaline form. Epthianura of Australia is also placed next Eupetes by Bonaparte ; but Gray places Grallina, Enicurus, and Epthianura in his Motacillinae. The Dippers are found in Europe, Asia, and America. In India they are confined entirely to the Himalayan Mountains.