Fast eBooks

_Probable Origin of the Dippers._
An excellent example of how a limited group of species has been able to
maintain itself by adaptation to one of these "vacant places" in nature,
is afforded by the curious little birds called dippers or water-ouzels,
forming the genus Cinclus and the family Cinclidae of naturalists. These
birds are something like small thrushes, with very short wings and tail,
and very dense plumage. They frequent, exclusively, mountain torrents in
the northern hemisphere, and obtain their food entirely in the water,
consisting, as it does, of water-beetles, caddis-worms and other
insect-larvae, as well as numerous small freshwater shells. These birds,
although not far removed in structure from thrushes and wrens, have the
extraordinary power of flying under water; for such, according to the
best observers, is their process of diving in search of their prey,
their dense and somewhat fibrous plumage retaining so much air that the
water is prevented from touching their bodies or even from wetting their
feathers to any great extent.


Pages:
194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218