THE DIPPER. 87 



just large enough to admit the bird. It is usually placed 

 in a bank overhanging the water, or under a moss-grown 

 rock, by the side of a stream or burn, and is often so well 

 concealed that it escapes the prying eyes of boys, who 

 consider it a great prize. 



Up the bosky howe linu where the Water-Craw clocks, 



And laves his white breast 'mang the faim, 

 We hae scrambled for 'oors mid the winding and nooks, 



Tae seek for his moss-theekit hame, 



Thomas Watts. 



The same spot is often selected for the nest year after 

 year, if the birds be not disturbed. While following the 

 Hon. G. Hill's otter-hounds along the banks of the Whit- 

 adder, in company with Mr. John Clay, jun., on the 27th of 

 May 1879, we discovered one placed in the angle of the 

 buildings of Clarabad Mill, where the water rushes out after 

 turning the water-wheel, and the miller told us that a pair 

 of Dippers had built there every season, for at least ten 

 years in succession. Mr. Thomas H. Ford, Duns, informs 

 me that when he lived at Nisbet Mill on the Blackadder, 

 upwards of fifteen years ago, the Water Crow was very 

 numerous there, especially during snow-storms in winter, 

 when it became comparatively tame. Its favourite breeding- 

 place was in a hole under the arch of a small bridge across 

 the mill-lade about thirty yards above the mill, which it 

 was known to have occupied for forty years. At Abbey St. 

 Bathans a nest was placed for twelve successive seasons 

 near the water-wheel of the saw-mill ; and at Longformacus 

 House one is often built close under the footway of a wooden 

 bridge which leads across the Dye to the garden. The 

 rocky dean which runs to the Tweed near Paxton House, 

 and through which a small rivulet meanders, is a favourite 

 haunt of this bird, and here I have frequently found its 

 nest under a moss-grown rock overhanging the stream. The 



