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before it completes its work (Zoologist, 18G6, p. 268); and I believe that this is the case, 

 although I have never been able to prove the fact. Sometimes the Dipper shows unwonted 

 boldness in its choice of an abode. I have known a pair to build in a hole in a wall to which 

 they could only gain access by darting between the revolving spokes of a mill-wheel." 



Victor, Ritler von Tschusi-Schmidhofen, records (J. f. O. 1870, p. 275) a peculiar instance of 

 the Dipper placing its nest in a perfectly open position. When on a visit to the Rev. Mr. Hanf. 

 at Mariahof, in Styria, a peasant told him that he had found a Dipper's nest in a perfectly open 

 situation in a ditch ; and such proved to be case ; for on going to the place the nest was seen 

 from a considerable distance, and resembled a green mole-hill. The nest itself, writes this 

 gentleman, " was placed on a stone, and was constructed of coarse moss outside, with finer moss 

 in the interior, and lined with fine grass; it measured ll^" outside, and 4f inside diameter. 

 .... On looking into the nest I saw that it contained five young ones, which I ascertained by 

 putting my hand into the nest. I had just withdrawn my hand when they all plunged into the 

 water, immediately dived down, and swam away under the water, until they reached a place on 

 the shore where they could hide themselves. To see how these birds swam under the water, we 

 put three of the young ones which we had caught, into it. They immediately dived down, made 

 five or six movements with their feet, and then reached the shore. During the swimming under 

 the water they stretched their head forward, the legs being kept close to the body, and used 

 their half-grown wings like oars, each movement bringing them about a foot forward. I was 

 previously unaware that the young birds, so soon as threatened by^any danger, attempted to 

 escape in the water, being able to swim, but thought that they only learned to do so when 

 obliged to seek for food ; at all events they are thereby able to save themselves from many 

 dangers from which they could not escape if only able to seek refuge on land." 



Mr. Carl Sachse, writing to me from Altenkirchen, in Rhenish Prussia, says that it " remains 

 there during the entire year, and the male bird often utters its song on clear frosty days. When 

 frightened it flies swiftly close to the surface of the brook, but when undisturbed will often fly 

 thirty or forty yards above the water, its flight being then bow-shaped ; and it frequently passes 

 over the woods to another brook, uttering, when on the wing, a clear loud cry. It usually 

 frequents the most turbid portions of our streams, its nest being placed in holes in the walls 

 of the mill-dam. It sits very close, and will not leave its eggs till one puts one's hand into the 

 nest-hole, and, even when repeatedly disturbed, will not forsake. In mild seasons it breeds in 

 March, and I found callow young this year (1873) on the 13th of April. Usually two broods 

 are raised in the season, the second lot of eggs being deposited in May ; and if these are taken 

 it frequently breeds a third time. In four years I have taken thirty-four eggs out of one nest- 

 hole, sixteen of which (viz. six, five, and five) were laid in one season. All the nests I have 

 taken had the foundation composed of green moss, on which was a layer of fine roots and grass, 

 the internal lining being composed of dry oak leaves. The hole out of which I took the 

 thirty-four eggs was in the foundation wall of a water-mill ; and the whole face of the wall being 

 covered with green moss furnished the birds with ample materials for their nest. The entire 

 hole, thirty centimetres long, sixteen high, and twelve wide, was filled with this green moss, 

 only a small hole being left by the birds for exit and ingress ; and behind this the nest itself was 

 built. Immediately in front of the hole were two water-wheels, so that I could not reach the 



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