54 THe Birps Asout Us. 
points in the nesting and other habits of well-known 
birds that bear a faint resemblance. Our common 
pewee, for instance, breeds in excessively damp 
places occasionally. I remember having my atten- 
tion called by the miller to a pewee’s nest that was 
so near the edge of the water-fall that it was difficult 
to see how it remained dry when there was an exces- 
sive flow, or when the wind was directly north. The 
miller told me he had seen the mist so dense that the 
bird was lost to sight in it going and coming from 
the nest. I remember, too, finding a nest on a ledge 
of rock, overhung by another, from which the waters 
of a spring were trickling. This falling water was 
too great in volume and the bird too large for it to 
fly between the drops on coming from or going to 
its nest. 
Winter-wrens, notwithstanding the time of year, 
seem quite indifferent to water, and more than thrust 
their bills into the shallow brooks, and explore 
damp, dripping, gloomy caverns where all is sodden, 
and yet come to the light again with every feather 
dry and a chirp of satisfaction at their beak’s end. 
Swallows, as we all know, do not object to a spray 
bath, and I have a strong inclination to believe I 
have seen our common spotted sand-piper deliber- 
ately dive ; still, 1 am not sure; but enough has been 
seen to show that the habits of the dipper have come 
about quite naturally, and have nothing marvellous 
about them. 
