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the middle and south of the Country (especially the Harz, Thiiringia, 

 Saxony, Franconia and the South), but is rarely met with on the northern 

 plains. In Switzerland it is generally distributed, breeding up to about 

 6000 ft., and is also found in the hilly parts of France and Belgium. 

 It is almost universal along the Pyrenean range, and is met with on all 

 the principal sierras of the Iberian peninsula, from the S. Nevada to the 

 Cantab rian Mts, as well as in Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica, and is said 

 to breed occasionally on Malta. In Italy it is confined to the hilly 

 districts in the breeding season, and this is also generally the case in the 

 Balkan peninsula and Austro - Hungary . In S. Russia it is tolerably 

 common, but does not range as far N. as the Government of Moscow, 

 though in the Urals it is said to be found as far as lat 59**. [It is also 

 common in the Canaries ; and by the streams in the Great Atlas (Meade- 

 Waldo).] 



Although essentially a haunter of clear mountain streams, a few 

 pairs will generally be found breeding for some distance after the river 

 has debouched into the plain, even as far as the sea-coast, using ledges 

 and cavities in the stonework of water mills, walls, and bridges as nesting 

 sites in default of high banks and rocks. The nest is generally, but not 

 invariably, placed close to water, often on a ledge of rock or on a steep 

 bank side, and occasionally among tree roots. Among less usual sites 

 may be mentioned the top of an old stump, and in a ventilator of a house 

 in N. Wales, on a shelf in a room entered through a broken window, 

 while Seebohm records a nest built on the ruins of an old Thrush's nest 

 and another in the fork of an alder, close to the ground, and E. W. 

 Blagg found a nest in semi-darkness at the far end of a natural cave not 

 far from the R. Dove. Sometimes the nest is concealed by a natural 

 growth of fern, ivy, or other vegetation, and is then not easy to see, 

 especially as the bird will sit close when it fancies itself unobserved. It 

 is however decidedly a shy bird in the early breeding stages, and when 

 flushed from the nest while building or before incubation has begun, is 

 very *" liable to forsake it altogether. On the other hand the parents 

 display the greatest anxiety for the safety of their eggs or young; and the 

 same locality, and sometimes the same spot, is often resorted to year 

 after year. The foundation of the nest consists of moss, with sometimes 

 a few small twigs, skeletonized leaves, and roots or grasses, and the lining 

 is generally horsehair, white preferably, though cowhair is also sometimes 

 used, and in one case the lining consisted entirely of pigs' bristles. A 

 few feathers are also said to be occasionally found. In the Canaries 

 Kouig found goat as well as cow hair, and wool, used as lining material, 

 and in the highlands of Greece Seebohm observed that the lining was 

 thicker than usual. Diameter of cup about 21 in., depth 1 — li in. 



