126 BIRD-LIFE OF THE BORDERS. 



over its waters. Of this fact the solitary Heron is well 

 aware, and his great gi-ey form is a characteristic feature of 

 this season, solemnly flapping across the moors to some little 

 burn that he wots of as a favourite resort of the trout ; or 

 perhaps he startles a nervous shooter by suddenly flapping 

 out under his very feet from some deep-sided hidden little 

 burnlet, where the sportsman would as soon expect to find a 

 Dodo as either Heron or trout. 



Another bird which seeks the higher ground in November 

 is the Water-Ouzel or Dipper. Usually these little fellows, 

 as well as the Heron, prefer to frequent the larger burns in 

 the valleys, but at the end of October, and in November, it 

 is a frequent occurrence to almost step upon a Dipper con- 

 cealed in one of these little overgrown drains far up on the 

 hills. Their object in going there ha.s, jyrimci facie, a slightly 

 suspicious appearance, but it has, I believe, been conclusively 

 proved that the Dipper is almost, if not entirely, guiltless of 

 devouring spawn. Even if they did commit so heinous an 

 offence, the damage resultant would, in my opinion, be wholly 

 imperceptible, at least in the northern streams ; but homo 

 sapiens is nowadays very intolerant — often uuintelligently 

 intolerant — of even the appearance of rivalry, in anything 

 of which he may have arrogated to himself the monopoly. 



I have noticed in November a Dipper swimming about, 

 like a little duck, on the open water of a lough at one of the 

 highest points on the moors. The Kitty Wren is, besides 

 the Dipper, almost the only one of the resident small birds 

 that one sees on the moors in November ; and a strange 

 little creature it is to meet with among the bare heather, far 

 out on the hills, at this chill bleak season. Though gener- 

 ically so distinct, there is in several points a singular resem- 

 blance between these two little winter songsters. In form, 

 carriage, song, and in their mode of nesting they are 

 strangely alike, and agree moreover in their common hardi- 

 hood and endurance of extreme severities of weather, both 

 species braving the most protracted snow storms on the 

 Border moors. 



The Raven has now become comparatively a scarce bird 

 on the Northumbrian side of the Borders ; but a few still 



