SOME BIRDS OF THE WATERFALLS 169 



mediately beneath a waterfall, and the young birds 

 get their first peep of the world without through a 

 spray shower of water crystals. Their green mossy 

 home conforms marvellously to the dripping rock 

 against which it is placed so much so that only a 

 trained eye can detect it. The dipper is an early 

 breeder, in some years commencing its nest in 

 January, and having its five foam- white eggs by the 

 end of the following month. There has been an 

 ouzel's nest by the " White Water " rocks time out 

 of mind. Every spring, when the first willow-wren's 

 call comes up from the woods, I make a pilgrimage 

 to visit it. So soon as I am near enough to hear the 

 rush of the water over the falls, so soon do I catch 

 the wondrously joyous strains of the brook birds. 

 It seems that the more white water is falling the 

 louder they sing; and often when from the bird's 

 bill I have seen that it was singing, the song has been 

 completely drowned by the rushing noise of the 

 water. And the nest! It has been against that 

 dripping, lichened rock since first I could reach up 

 to it. It is one of the marvels of bird architecture 

 so fresh, so crisp, so cunningly woven; and yet so 

 much in keeping with the spirit of the bird. It is 

 quite a foot in diameter, round and bossy in outline, 

 with a neat hole in the side, and wholly composed 

 of the freshest green moss. Standing by, one is 

 soon drenched through and through by the falling 



