1890-91-] Natural History Notes. 425 



up and down, and protesting against any interference with its 

 dwelling. The nest is composed of straw, and nicely lined 

 with hair. It contains only one egg, which we leave un- 

 touched, though the desire is great to add it to our collection. 

 As we pass the sluice at the mill, we carelessly pitch a stone 

 into the burn, and are astonished that this results in the ap- 

 pearance of a dipper, who flits a certain way down the stream, 

 and then perches on a stone in the middle. We cannot find 

 any nest in the bank on either side, though certain hollows 

 between the piles suggest that the bird might have been pros- 

 pecting. We take the liberty, however, of interfering with 

 the miller's arrangements for a couple of minutes, by putting 

 down the sluice, and so shutting off the water, when, strange 

 to say, a search discloses the dipper's nest behind what was a 

 minute ago a heavy fall of water, through which the birds 

 would have to pass and repass every time they visited the 

 nest. The inside of the nest is dry and warm, though a por- 

 tion of the covered roof is quite wet, but the dome was so 

 made that no damp could find its way into the interior. The 

 eggs are about the size Qf a blackbird's egg, and quite white. 



Taking now a short cut through some waste land, we 

 nearly put our foot upon the nest of the skylark, neatly 

 placed in a small tuft of grass, and containing three dark- 

 marked eggs. Farther on we come upon the nest of the 

 peewit, if the hollow where the four eggs are placed can be 

 so called. The eggs taper very much, and are placed with 

 the large end towards the outside of the nest. They thus 

 occupy very little space, and harmonise so beautifully with 

 the surroundings that the nest is difficult of detection. Not- 

 withstanding the stimulus given by the cry of the lapwing, — 

 " Peewit, peewit, harry my nest and awa' wi't," — we leave the 

 contents undisturbed, not having then acquired a taste for 

 plovers' eggs. In some marshy ground we come upon a 

 snipe's nest, and find also on a fallen tree, the top of which 

 rests upon a small pool of water, the nest of the water-hen, 

 built of rushes, and filled with its reddish -coloured eggs. 

 While further exploring the long grass and rushes, we almost 

 tread upon a duck, which appears to have a wing broken, and 

 to which, in consequence, we turn our attention. A stern 

 chase is proverbially a long one, and this is no exception to 



VOL. II, 2 F 



