DIPPER 



COMMON DIPPER EUROPEAN DIPPER WATER OUZEL. 



PLATE XCVII. 

 Cinclus aquaticus, . . . FLEMING. SELBY. 



X TIDIFICATION begins about the middle of April. The 

 1 1 nest, which is cleverly concealed and large, measuring 

 ten or twelve inches in diameter and seven or eight in depth, 

 being domed, is well compacted of moss and grass, and fully 

 lined with leaves. It is placed in some cavity in a rock, or 

 under the protection of some overhanging stone in the im- 

 mediate neighbourhood of the rippling stream or murmuring 

 waterfall, the birds' favourite haunt. Different specimens, 

 however, vary in size as well as shape, adapted doubtless to 

 the circumstances of the spot they are placed in, some being 

 a couple of inches less than the size just spoken of. The 

 aperture is in front, from three to four inches in width, and 

 about one and a half in height. Macgillivray mentions one, 

 described by Mr. Thomas Durham Weir, which was built in 

 an angle between two fragments of rocks under a small 

 cascade, and although the water fell upon part of the dome, 

 the compactness with which it was put together rendered it 

 waterproof. 



Another was similarly placed in a hole of a wall close to 

 a waterfall, which passed over it, but the birds nevertheless 



