16 THE BIRDS OF CUMBERLAND. 



aofain, as liiofh as fifteen or sixteen feet above the 

 water, with a clear plunge into a pool as deep. The 

 building of the nest, in which both birds take part, 

 is chiefly carried on in the hours of early morning, 

 and commonly occupies about a fortnight in con- 

 struction, though in one instance a nest was built 

 and received six eggs within the space of fifteen 

 days. Occasionally a pair of Dippers w^ill commence 

 to build in February, and yet only commence incu- 

 bation in the first week of April. We have seen 

 four nests jilaced side by side on a favourite ledge 

 of rock, two belonging to the current year and 

 two to the previous year, but one alone containing 

 eggs, the rest being in different stages of decay. 

 Our earliest clutch of eggs was completed on 

 March 3rd, and we have found eggs as late as 

 July 7th, two broods being commonly reared, and 

 many of the first broods fl^^ing in the latter half of 

 April. 



The normal full complement of a clutch is 

 five eggs. 



The natural diet of the Dipper consists of 

 aquatic insects, but it occasionally feeds on small 

 fish. " This summer," says Capt. K. Dover, writing 

 in 1881, " I saw the Dipper in pursuit of a minnow 

 in a small pool of water about two feet deep and 

 two or three yards in extent, which it caught after 

 a good deal of turning and twisting about, using its 

 wings like the flappers of a seal. After securing the 

 fish, it flew a couple of yards to be safe from the 

 water, and then gave the fish a peck upon the 

 shoulder, and, after a second or two, another on the 



