O'er Fell and Dale 



edition of the home of the common brown wren, a little 

 squatter perhaps, and with a far better hidden front 

 door, especially when you are looking at it on the eye 

 line. 



I spent two whole days with that particular water 

 ouzel as the bird is alternatively called in many dis- 

 tricts and discovered she was mateless, and had to 

 perform all the hard work of foraging for her family of 

 hungry chicks unaided and uncheered. Once or twice a 

 strange member of her species passed up or down stream 

 and was promptly chased away with a great show of 

 anger. 



Dippers annex a length of stream by right of con- 

 quest, and are the greatest sticklers in the bird world 

 over their territorial rights. 



If the shifting of my position on account of the 

 changing direction of the light necessitated keeping her 

 away from the nest for a little while she waited close at 

 hand and frequently dipped the insects she held between 

 her mandibles into the water in order, I imagine, to 

 keep them moist and fresh for her young. 



In the short space of two days I converted her from 

 a shy, nervous creature into such a fearless, confiding 

 one that she would come and boldly feed her family 

 whilst I sat and watched her only a few feet away. 



Moles are very common on the fells, whither they 

 ascend to breed and spend the summer. I know one 

 plateau, about seventeen hundred feet above ocean level, 

 where mole hills new and old are almost as numerous 

 as pebbles on the seashore. 



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