Natural History of Ireland. 429 



favourite time. I have heard it sing when flying at a great height, 

 as well as when perched just above the water. 



It is remarked by Mr Selby, that these birds are seen " always 

 on the margin of the stream, or perched in their particular attitude 

 on some projecting stone in the middle of the water," and thus are 

 they characteristically represented in his splendid " Illustrations of 

 British Ornithology," as well as by Bewick, whose vignette more 

 especially exhibits the species in its " rightful place" in connection 

 with the scenery depicted ; but about the ponds at Wolf hill, an ele- 

 vated situation near Belfast, and where they have chiefly come un- 

 der my observation, the willows that fringe the banks are their con- 

 stant perch. 



The first nest of this bird I remarked was placed in a hole in 

 the clayey bank of a pond, where, owing to the shelter afforded, 

 there was no occasion for the display of its domed architecture, 

 and this was consequently dispensed with. This nest contained four 

 eggs, from which three young were produced. As soon as these 

 were fledged, they were to be seen early every morning, accompani- 

 ed by their parents about the same pond, some singing, others div- 

 ing from the rail on which they were perched into the water, none of 

 them for a moment at rest ; but when neither diving nor singing, going 

 through the most grotesque and amusing evolutions. Thus were they a 

 highly interesting group, presenting quite a picture of social happiness. 

 Similar playfulness of manner I have frequently witnessed, though 

 from being generally seen singly, the species is regarded as unsocial. 

 In autumn, at a favourite haunt, I once saw a water-ouzel seated on 

 a large stone singing, and jerking about its head most ludicrously, 

 whilst a second individual moved in a saltatory manner round the 

 base of the stone. The following note by a relative, who is an ac- 

 curate observer, also illustrates the same trait : " On the 26th Sep- 

 tember,* a pair of water- ouzels, at the upper pond of Wolf hill, plung- 

 ed several times into the water, which was some feet deep, and remain- 

 ed, moving about in it with only their heads above the surface ; twice 

 one of them disappeared altogether for a few seconds ; they then 

 pursued each other round the pond, alighted, when one of them 

 sang, and they repeated over again several times all these manoeu- 

 vres." Of five other sites observed to be selected for nidification in 

 this neighbourhood, three were in the fissures of rocks close to the 

 finest cascades of our mountain streams. One of them was tastefully 

 placed on a niche near the summit of a waterfall of 30 feet, the 

 rock directly above it rising to such an elevation as to render it 



* The date is mentioned, to show that they are not any of the captivating nits 

 preceding the nuptial season. 



