66 



BRITISH BIRDS' NESTS. 



or rust colour, vent and under tail-coverts black. 

 Legs, toes, and claws black. 



Situation and Locality. I have found this bird's 

 nest in niches of rock, on sloping ledges, on a 

 boulder in the middle of a mountain stream, behind 

 a waterfall, in the root of a tree, in the arch of a 

 bridge where a stone had slipped out, fixed to a 



sod which was constantly 

 dripping with splashes from 

 a waterfall close by, and 

 on one or two occasions in 

 trees some ten or twelve feet 

 over streams. It is never far 

 from a mountain torrent, 

 and is met with in the west 

 and north of England, 

 Wales, and pretty generally 

 over Scotland and Ireland. 

 Materials. The exterior 

 is made of aquatic mosses, 

 generally harmonising closely 

 with surrounding objects, 

 and the inside is beautifully lined with dead leaves 

 laid layer upon layer. The appearance of the nest 

 varies considerably according to situation. 



Eggs. Four to six, generally five, of a delicate, 

 semi-transparent white, unspotted. Size about i.o 

 by .75 in. 



Time. March, April, May, June, and occasion- 

 ally as late as July. I used to notice when a boy 

 that in some seasons the Thrush, and in others 

 the Dipper, would commence to nest first in the 

 north of England. 



Remarks. Resident. Call notes : chit, chit. 

 Song low and sweet, but very pleasant, and uttered 



DIPPER. 



