120 TRANSACTIONS—PERTHSHIRE SOCIETY OF NATURAL SCIENCE. 
IX .—The Home of the Dipper. 
By Lieut.-Colonel W. H. M. Duthie. 
(Read loth January, 1895.) 
The burn comes rushing down the glen, leaping over the stones 
and dancing on the shallows, and falls foaming into a deep rocky 
basin, where the water rests for a while, gathering strength for its 
onward course down to the valley below. The water-spiders slide 
about on the smooth surface of the w^ater, and a trout darts under 
cover of a stone as we look down into the dark depths of the pool. 
It is April, and the dead leaves of the young oaks still cling to the 
branches, and the buds of a great ash tree, which spreads its boughs 
overhead, are hard and black, but there is ample compensation for the 
lack of foliage above in the wealth of fresh verdure which clothes the 
ground. The rocks are covered with moss, and woodland rush, and 
golden saxifrage, and the stalks of young ferns are pushing their 
curled heads through the rusty wreckage of last year’s growth; the 
exposed roots of the overhanging trees twine in and out among the 
herbage, and from the top of a high bank, ivy and honeysuckle fall in 
long tresses to the w^ater’s edge; primroses and wild anemones are in 
full flower, and the deep orange petals of the marsh marigolds are re¬ 
flected in the mirror of the pool—all this verdant growth is kept fresh 
by constant moisture, for the water, ever trickling down the rocks, 
soaks into the spongy mosses, where it is held in reserve, to fall dowm, 
drop by drop, from the ends of every tiny leaf and stem. A cease¬ 
less sound of running waters fills the air—the murmur of distant water¬ 
falls, the rush of swiftly racing rapids, and the splash of the near 
cascade are all blended together into one melodious strain of natural 
music which the Dippers love, and it is in places such as this, that 
these birds choose to make their home and build their nests. 
“ There to the brooding bird, her mate 
Warbles in fits his low clear song, 
And by the busy streamlet, both 
Are sung to all day long. ” 
Their beautifully constructed domed nest is built firmly against 
a rock, or among the roots of a tree, or in any suitable place in the 
bank of a stream, sometimes so close to a waterfall that its roof is 
constantly wet with spray. It is of the same character as that of the 
Wren, but is larger in size, and more oval in form. It is composed ot 
moss and grass, and these materials are so tightly and closely woven and 
knitted together that its walls, two or three inches in thickness, are 
like felt, rendering the snug little abode quite impervious to cold and 
damp. It harmonizes well with its natural surroundings and is not 
