EARLY NESTS 



17 



They range over half a mile or a mile of water when hunting 

 water-beetles and fly larvae for their young ; and within that 

 limit no other pair of colleys can be tolerated. Knowing 

 their haunts so well, both kinds of birds return to it very 

 early in the spring. Both dippers and grey wagtails have 

 often eggs by the end of March, while the upbuilding of the 

 mossy mass of the dipper's nest is one of the most delightful 

 signs of spring's oncoming. Wagtails feed more above the 

 water than dippers ; they wade a little, but do not swim or 

 dive. Hence they are forced to leave in winter all but a 

 few exceptionally sheltered corners of the upland streams. 

 Dippers hunt out larvae, and sometimes fish spawn, below 

 the surface ; and they can thus hold their place at all times 

 of year, except in the hardest frosts. 



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