DIPPER 99 



and grasses that spring up around the mossy walls, or in front of the door-sill, 

 dripping with crystal beads. 



Nests are not always placed on rocks; several have been reported 

 as built among the upturned roots of fallen trees, near or over the 

 water. Mrs. TVHieelock (1904) reports one that "was located on a 

 smooth granite boulder that rose from tlie white foam of the American 

 River in the Sierra Nevada. Resting half on the rock and half in 

 the stream was a fallen tree trunk, and under the shelter of this on 

 the slippery rock the Ouzel had woven his little moss nest, kept fresh 

 and green by tlie spray that dashed over it." 



Since man has invaded some of the ouzel's mountain haunts, the 

 birds have learned to use man-made structures, little daunted by human 

 activities in the vicinity. A number of nests have been observed 

 under bridges that were in regular use. Such nests were built against 

 or upon tlie girders or the supporting beams, often close up to the 

 planking ; the nest in such a situation had to be made to fit the avail- 

 able space ; sometimes there was not room for the usual dome, which, 

 of course, was not needed for protection; an occasional bridge nest 

 may be entirely open at the top, like a phoebe's nest. Dean Amadon 

 tells me that he found a dipper's nest, in Wyoming, that was under a 

 bridge on a main improved road; it was 4 feet above the water on 

 top of a supporting beam. Nests have been found under bridges in 

 villages. Two rather remarkable cases of such familiarity with civ- 

 ilization have been recorded. Many years ago. Dr. Cooper (Suckley 

 and Cooper, 1860) wrote: 



I found a nest of this bird at a saw mill down on the Chehalis river. It was 

 built under the shelving roots of an immense arbor-vitae, which had floated 

 over and rested in a slanting position against the dam. The floor was made 

 of small twigs and bare, the sides and roof arching over it like an oven, and 

 formed of moss projecting above so as to shelter the opening. This was large 

 enough to admit the hand, and tlie inside very capacious. It contained half- 

 fledged young. The old birds were familiar and fearless, being accustomed to 

 the noise of the mill and the society of the men, who were much interested by 

 their curious habits. They had already raised a brood in the same nest that 

 summer. 



In a small village in ]\Iodoc County, Calif., Charles L. Whittle 

 (1921) traced a water ouzel to its nest in a wooden lean-to, or shed, 

 in the rear of the village bank, built of brick. "As close inspection 

 as possible revealed the bird's somewhat bulky nest placed on a 

 horizontal timber near where it joined a rafter and close against the 

 end of the shed. The nest was placed directly over and some 8 feet 

 above the water," which flowed swiftly under the shed. 



Nest-building seems to be performed mainly, if not wholly, by 

 the female in a most ingenious manner. This is fully described in 

 some extracts from the notebooks of Denis Gale, published by Junius 



