32 BIRDS OF LANCASHIRE. 



tially a bird of the hill-district, and is hardly known 

 in the flat south-west portion of the county. It is 

 frequent, according to Mr. John Hardy, in places on the 

 large moors about Bury and Oldham, and northward, 

 becomes increasingly numerous as the manufacturing 

 districts are left behind. Corry (" History of Lancashire," 

 1825) says that it nests on the rocky shelves over- 

 hanging the Spodden, near Eochdale, and it still 

 occasionally breeds in Rossendale. It is mxentioned (ed. 

 Raines, Chetham Society, 1848) by Nicholas Assheton 

 of Downham in his diary, who relates how on November 

 4th (1617) he went " downe to the water" and " Sher- 

 borne killed a water-ousle," and on the rocky streams 

 of Eibblesdale it is abundant at the present day, as also 

 of all the fell country northwards to Furness and the 

 borders of Windermere. The nest is placed under the 

 overhanging banks of, or in crevices of rocks near, 

 brooks and rivers, on ledges behind waterfalls, or on 

 jutting stones under bridges, and is invariably lined 

 with leaves. Particular spots are frequented year after 

 year even if the nests are robbed. An interesting 

 account of the construction of the nest is given b}' Col. 

 H. W. Feilden in the Zoolofiist for 1867. Writing from 

 Feniscowles he says, " Under the arch of a bridge, over 

 which the high-road passes, a pair of Water-Ouzels are 

 now nesting. They commenced building about March 

 1st ; the very cold weather that commenced about the 

 6th stopped further proceedings, but building was re- 

 sumed on the 24th, the very day a thaw commenced : 

 by the 31st the outside of the nest was completed, and 

 on the 7th of April there was one egg in. I noticed 

 very particularly each day the progress made on this 

 nest : the birds commenced building from the bottom, 

 and then piled a ring of moss, in the shape of the letter 



