22 BIRD-LIFE OF THE BORDERS. 



for their nest, the eggs lying on the bare scraps of " touch- 

 wood." The hole or slit used for ingress and exit may be 

 three or four feet above the eggs, and, perhaps, not over four 

 inches in width ; and how so large a bird gets comfortably 

 up and .down the narrow vertical tunnel is not easy to see ; 

 but this is a problem with most hole-breeding birds. 



Although it is a thousand pities ever to kill one of these 

 harmless birds, yet if any one has an opportunity of handling 

 one newly-killed he may utilize the poor victim by examin- 

 ing the extraordinary formation of an Owl's ear. I will 

 undertake to say it will both surprise and interest. By 



THE DIPPER. 



separating the long feathers immediately behind the facial 

 orbit, what can only be described as a huge gap in the 

 bird's head will be observed. So entirely disproportionate 

 does this chasm appear, that one is inclined to wonder if the 

 bird has met with some accident. The skin of the head is 

 loose', and unattached to the skull for some distance round 

 the aurital cavity ; consequently the whole anterior portion 

 of the cranium, together with the reverse, or inner side of 

 the bird's eye, is fully exposed to view. 



Not many birds care to undertake the risks of domestic 



