306 BRITAlN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 



many Dippers come to the estuaries and coasts. Some 

 of these are from the inland hill -regions, but others 

 belong to one of the continental races. 



The Dipper is a very early nester, eggs being some- 

 times found in February. They may be six in number, 

 and are plain white in colour. The nest in which they 

 are laid is a rather large and elaborate structxire of moss, 

 grass, and the like. It is oval in shape, the greatest 

 length being horizontal, and the opening rather low down 

 in one side. It is not so low, however, that there is 

 any danger of the eggs rolling out. Dry leaves form the 

 lining. The nest naturally harmonises well with the moss- 

 grown bank, rock, wall, or bridge against which it is 

 fastened. Sometimes it is on an overhanging branch or 

 behind a small waterfall. It is usually within a few feet 

 of the water, but a nest has been recorded at the first- 

 floor level of a house some yards from the bank. Two 

 or three broods are reared ; and, what is rather unusual, 

 the same nest often serves for each brood in turn. The 

 same site is often returned to in successive seasons. We 

 have come across a nest which was about a foot above 

 the water at normal times, but was carried away during 

 a ' spate.' The next year practically the same spot was 

 occupied, the nest being about a foot above the old site. 

 Any harm that the Dipper may occasionally do to 

 trout or salmon ova is much more than compensated for, 

 even from this one-sided point of view, by its regularly 

 feeding on certain insects and their larvae which are very 

 destructive to fish-ova. 



