Zoological recreations / [William John Broderip].

  • William Broderip
Date:
1848
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Zoological recreations / [William John Broderip]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    we are to believe some authors, the Water-Ouzel, Water Black- bird, or Dipper,* Der WasserscTiwcitzer of the Germans, Merle (Veau of the French, and Tordo del agua of the Spaniards, delibe- rately descends into the water, and walks about on the botttom of the stream with the same ease and complacency as if it were stepping on the dry land. Now, to say nothing of that ex- tremely impracticable law of which we are reminded every hour of the day, and more especially “ when china falls,” the structure of the bird itself is not adapted for such a feat; and though we have no doubt of its subaqueous habits, which have food more than frolic for their object, we are more than sceptical as to its pedestrian performances in such a situation. Mr. Macgillivray, who writes as none can .wnite who have not beheld what they write about, informs us that he has seen the Dipper moving under water in situations where he could observe it with certainty, and he found that its actions w^ere precisely similar to those of the Divers, Mergansers, and Cormorants, which he had often w^atchedfrom an eminence as they pursued the shoals of sand-eels along the shores of the Hebrides. It, in fact, flew; not merely employing the wing from the carpal joint, but extending it considerably, and availing itself of the whole expanse, just as it would have done if it had been moving in the air. The general direction of the body was obliquely downwards ; and great force was evidently used to counteract buoyancy, the bird finding it difficult to keep itself at the bottom. Mr. Macgillivray remarks that Colonel Montagu well describes the appearance which it presents under such circumstances ; and the former goes on to state that, in one or two instances where he has been able to perceive it under water, it appeared to tumble about in a very extraordinary manner, with its head downwards, as if pecking something, and at the same time great exertion of both wings and legs w^as used. The bird was, we doubt not, at this time capturing the fresh-water mollusca and insect-larvse which form its principal aliment. When searching for food, the Dipper, according to Mr. Macgillivray, does not proceed to great distances under water; but, alighting on some spot, sinks, and soon reappears in the immediate neigh- bourhood, when it either dives again, or rises on the wing to drop somewhere else on the water, or to settle on an insulated stone in the midst of the brook. The same ornithologist broadly, and, as we believe, truly, states that the assertion of its walking below the surface, which some persons have ventured, is neither made good by observation nor countenanced b}^ reason. Its short legs, and long, curved claws, are, as he says, very ill adapted for running, * Cinclus aquaticus—Tardus Cinclus of Linnaeus.
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