7638 Birds. 



two visits afterwards I found the vedstaits had got and kept possession of the fly- 

 catchei's nest, and had reared the young. The lale T. C. Heysham was with ine 

 when we saw them nearly full fledged, and none but the redstarts were in attendance. 



Dipper. Much sagacity is often displayed in selecting a place for its nest. I 

 knew of one placed on a ledge of rock behind the shoot of a small cascade, on a little 

 brook about four miles south of Carlisle. The fall was about twenty feet, but the 

 water only detached itself from the ruck about six feet from its base, where the stone 

 had been hollowed out by the action of the water, where it pitched clean over, about 

 a yard in front of the nest. I should never have thought of looking for a nest there, 

 had I not seen the bird come out and fly up the River Petrill, which was within 

 twenty yards of it. In another case, about half a mile higher up the same river, I had 

 a long search for a dipper's nest. li was situate on a bank about six feet high, at 

 a bend of the stream, the loose shale and rock which had been scooped out by the floods 

 leavinc an overhanging edge, held together by the roots of trees and bushes. I knew 

 by the actions of the birds that the nest was confined to a space of a dozen yards, but 

 I looked in vain under the overhanging bank and among the old tree roots ; at last, 

 when raising my head, I caught sight of the entrance hole in the (ace of the overhanging 

 edge, and so nicely was it ma.de to correspond with the rest of the surface, both as to 

 colour and form, that I could not distinguish it, except by the aperture. I had passed 

 it repeatedly within three inches of my nose, but as the upper part of the opening 

 projects beyond the lower in the dipper's nest, it could only be seen when raising the 

 head from a stooping position. There are frequent cases, however, in which the dipper 

 attempts no concealment, but then, though it may be easily seen, it is not so easy to 

 get at; in these cases a ledge of rock is selected that goes sheer down into deep water, 

 and the nest cannot be approached from above or from either side, except with great 

 difficulty. In such cases the old birds become very pert, flirting about and chattering 

 quite close to the nest. One of these places used to be occupied year after year (and 

 I have no doubt there is a nest there at this moment, for they build early), near South- 

 waite Station, on the Carlisle and Lancaster Eailway. 



Ring Ouzel. I found two nests one day ; one on a ledge of rock at Fislierplace 

 Cascade, a waterfall on a small brook coming down from the Helvellyn Kange, a little 

 south of St. John's Vale. 



Twite. I find the uest upon a moss, within a few miles of Warrington, always close 

 to the ground, but always shaded over with a small bush of ling. 



Dotterel. Mr. Heysham's account as quoted cannot be taken as a guide by those 

 who intend to look for the eggs, for nest there is none. The birds do not select the 

 summits of the highest mountains, nor do they lay their eggs where the fringe moss 

 grows, but in a depression upon short dense grass a little below the summit. Mr. 

 Hejsham only saw the place where I found the first eggs, I believe, on record. This 

 was on Whiteside, a short distance from the end of Swirreledge, the ridge which con- 

 nects Whiteside and Helvellyn. I found another nest afterwards on Robinson, a 

 mountain near Buttermere ; the place selected was precisely the same as the first one. 

 On the same day I found a young one, apparently only a few days old ; it rose up 

 close to my feet, and ran before me, or I should never have seen it. I may mention 

 that the habits of the dotterel are difi'erent from the other plovers that I am acquainted 

 with, viz., tlie golden and ringed plovers ; these are somewhat noisy when you are 

 near their nests, the dotterel goes off to a little distance and sits quite mule ; one of 

 the old birds belonging to the last nest I found sal motionless on a stone until I 



