CINCLUS AQUATICUS. 2G5 



^ 1125. r«^^o.— Sutherland, 26 May, 1849. "J. W." 



I saw a Water-OuseFs nest in the picturesque little waterfall near 

 the old castle on Loch Assynt raentioned by Mr. St. John [Tour in 

 Sutherland^ i. p. 21] . It was in a hole under the roots of a tree or shrub 

 and therefore not placed in an artificial chamber, as Water-Ousels^ 

 nests (i. e. their inner nests) usually are. It was built of fine grass^ 

 lined with a few birch or alder leaves^ and placed nearly an arm^s 

 length in, amongst the fibrils and crumbling soil hanging to them. 

 I unfortunately broke the eggs. On the 26th May I took a Water- 

 OuseFs nest and saw several others. The nest is like a Nightingale^s 

 put inside a gigantic Wren^s or a casing of moss, which is dis- 

 pensed with in certain cases, as in that by the cascade just mentioned. 

 This was in the rocky burn in which I took or got taken the 

 KestreFs eggs [§ 159] . 



§ 1126. T^^o.— Sutherland, 1849. 



John Sutherland gave me these two eggs from a nest at Ledby by 

 a little waterfall. I touched and nearly caught the bird in the nest 

 when she was hatching after she had provided him with a great many 

 eggs the same season. 



^ 1127. 7%ree.— Sutherland, 1851. 



Sent me by John Sutherland, who probably took them from the 

 prolific nest near his house which he shewed me in 1849 [§ 1126]. 



[§ 1128. One. — Durham. From Mr. T. Robson, through 

 Mr. R. Reynolds.] 



\S 1129. 7k'o.— Kirkside, Aberdeenshire, 1852. From Mr. T. 

 Edward. 



Mr. Edward wrote that the locality was in the parish of King Edward, on 

 the east side of the river Deveron, which there parts the counties of Aberdeen 

 and Banff. He said of the bird : — " The Water Crow shares the same fate 

 here as the Hawk, being killed by the gamekeepers when they appear. They 

 are considered to be very destructive in this part of the country to salmon- 

 spawn. Whether they are or not, poor birds, they suffer. Of their nests I 

 found two : the one contained young, the other three eggs, one of which 

 broke. About nine hours after I took away the eggs I had two Water Crows 

 brought me to stuff, and on enquiry I found that they were the very birds to 



