176 



10 



nest without being drenched, except by having the wheels stopped. About ten years ago I first 

 found the bird breeding there, and took five fresh eggs in April ; and in 1870 I again examined 

 the nest on the 11th of May and took out of it five fresh eggs, the nest being taken out and 

 destroyed by my boy. Three days after the birds were busy collecting fresh materials, and soon 

 built a fresh nest in the same hole ; and on the 22nd of May this nest was likewise taken, and 

 contained four eggs. On the 23rd of April, 1871, six eggs were taken, on the 7th of May five, 

 unci on the 27th of May five, all out of the same nest-hole. The bird sat very close, and never 

 tefl till I put my hand into the nest-hole. On one occasion she flew right into a large body of 

 water which fell eighteen feet, with sufficient force to carry away a horse, dived under the second 

 water-wheel, and, appearing on the surface about thirty paces distant, flew away, uttering a 

 mournful note. In 1872 I found in the same hole, on the 24th of March, two young just 

 hatched and three eggs, and on the 3rd of May three eggs. The mill was then undergoing 

 repairs ; and the workmen amused themselves by catching the old birds and letting them go, 

 and finally destroyed the nest. Since then they have never returned, and now nest somewhere in 

 the banks of the brook. A pair once built in an ice-house close to a water-mill, placed so that 

 they could only reach their nest by flying through a covered ditch over a hundred paces long." 

 The specimens figured were obtained in Scotland, and are in my own collection. 



In the preparation of the above article I have examined the following specimens: — 



E Mm. II E. Dresser. 



a, b, c. Ahovnc, Aberdeenshire, September 1871 (R. B. S.). d. Aboyne, November 1871. e,f. Aboyne 

 (J. Waters). g,juv. Coblcntz. h, pull. Bonnywater, Stirlingshire {J. A. Harvie Brown). 



E Mm. II. B. Tristram. 



a, 9. Northumberland, 1838 (T. C. Adamson). b. Bewick, 1853. c, d. Alston Moor, Cumberland, 18G6. 

 e,juv. Alston Moor. f,juv. Hexham, May 1867 {Procter), g. Leadenhall Market, November 8th, 

 18G8 {J. G.). 



E Mm. Lord Lilford. 



a, d ■ Gaick, Inverness-shire, October 1871. 



E Mm. Feilden and Harvie Brown, 

 a, d. Carron river, Stirlingshire, April 3rd, 1872 (J. A. H. B.). 



E Mm. Edward R. Alston. 

 a, 2 juv. Stockbriggs, Lanarkshire, June 27th, 18G5 (E. R. A.). 



E Mm. Howard Saunders. 



a, 9 . Northumberland (R. G.). 



E Mm. Baron A. von Hiig el. 

 a, b. Stonehaven, Kincardineshire, September 1869 (A. von H.). c, 2 . Galicia, 1871. d,juv. Galicia, 1871. 



