DIPPER. 33 



0, against the wall ; they then laid moss alternately on 

 one side and the other, and by the time the ring of moss 

 was completed, the base of the nest protruded four or 

 five inches, and the top about one inch from the wall, 

 the thickness of the walls of the nest also tapering off 

 from bottom to top. When the ring was completed, as 

 I have described, the Ouzels changed their tactics, and 

 commenced building down from the top until the whole 

 of the nest was arched over, the entrance being placed 

 over the stream more at the base of the nest than the 

 side. It is wonderful how so large and heavy a struc- 

 ture as this clings to the wall, for where the nest is 

 placed there is only a slight convexity in the face of the 

 stone, hardly appreciable to the eye when the nest is 

 away." I think, however, that there must have been 

 some slight projection, perhaps covered before noticed 

 by the observer, on which the base of the nest might 

 rest. Mr. Thomas Garnett has also some pertinent 

 remarks on this species in the ^lagazinc of Natural 

 History for 1834. He says : " The Water-Ouzel does 

 sing very frequently, and as much in the winter as at 

 any time. Perched on a stone, or a piece of ice, it 

 chirps away at a famous rate ; but its song consists 

 almost entirely of its note zeet-zeet, which it hashes up 

 in all sorts of ways." He notes its resemblance to the 

 Wren in its habits and motions, its nods and curtsies, 

 and the cocking of its tail, and respecting its power of 

 walking under water, continues : "I have repeatedly 

 seen it doing so from a situation where I had an excel- 

 lent opportunity of observing it, the window of a 

 building directly over the place where it was feeding. 

 It walked in, began to turn over the pebbles with its 

 bill, rooting almost like a pig, and it seemed to have no 

 difficulty whatever in keeping at the bottom, at all depths 



D 



