NEST OF THE DIPPER. 19 



over the entrance ; that is, if it can be detected ; 

 to effect which no slight degree of close prying and 

 examination is necessary. The nest is formed of 

 the inner bark of trees, intermingled with green 

 moss, which soon vegetates. Sometimes dried 

 grasses and fibrous roots form part of the materials 

 of which it is composed, and it is warmly lined 

 with feathers." * 



Few situations are more remarkable than that 

 selected by the dipper, or water-ouzel, for its nest. 

 This little bird, finding its food at the bottom of 

 shallow streamlets, is capable of enduring tempo- 

 rary submersion without injury; what we have to 

 relate, therefore, as to the locality of its nest will 

 not surprise the reader. Its nest may often be 

 found in parts of Wales under the following cir- 

 cumstances. At the head of a ravine a wall of 

 rock will be placed, over the summit of which a 

 mountain stream pours down in a foaming cascade. 

 The waters leap from the edge of the rock, and so 

 leave behind them a dry portion of the front of 

 the rock, where several little moss-covered nooks 

 and recesses are found. Here the nest will be 

 found The nest itself is, in such circumstances, 



* Gould : Birds of Australia. 



