Irene, and others interested:

You will find John Muir's thoughts about Dippers (and other
birds) in chapter 9 of his book, "The Yosemite."
A quote: "But the most wonderful singer of all the birds is the
water-ouzel that dives into foaming rapids and feeds at the bottom,
holding on in a wonderful way, living a charmed life."
And the final sentence of the chapter:
"He must sing, though the heavens fall."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ _ - - _ _ _ - - _
/ Floyd Schrock \ _ - \. ./ - _
/ <fschrock at linfield.edu> \ _ - v - _
/ McMinnville, OR (USA) \
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On Sat, 10 Feb 1996, Jon. Anderson and Marty Chaney wrote:

> Irene,
>
> You might check Muir's "Mountains of California". I don't have a handy reference to page number, etc. I also like Florence Merriam Bailey's brief description of dippers in _Handbook of Birds of the Western United States_ (1902). Even the scientific writers were so much more eloquent, and quite clear in their descriptions; today's writing tends to be so 'dry' and 'professional', that it can bore one to tears.
>
>
> Jon:
> I enjoyed the msg re: the dippers and their nests. Do you have a
> citation for the Muir?
> Irene