The Dipper in Colorado
By EVAN LEWIS
IN 1891 I found on Bear Creek seven nests of the Dipper within a little over a mile of the cañon. All were placed where they could be reached only by long ladders or ropes. The creek was high and dangerous, so all nests were supposed to be perfectly safe; and, as this was May 30, the young birds should have been flying in a few days.
In 1894 I again went up Bear Creek Canon, but not an Ouzel or nest was to be seen where they were quite numerous three years before.
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DIPPER AND NEST
Photographed by Evan Lewis, at Idaho Springs. Colo., May 23. 1903
Nests were seen twenty miles farther up stream, but as they were easily reached, and trout fishing was there carried on daily, it is almost safe to presume that no young birds were reared there. One pair built under a bridge on Chicago Creek, and, as the water ran very swift and cold within a foot of the nest, they always succeeded in bringing out their brood.
For nesting material Dippers seem to prefer moss, but if moss is not available they use grass roots, which they obtain under the water. When started, the nest is a ring of nesting material, with the bare rock on which it is placed in the center. The nest proper is placed inside after the dome is completed and is usually made of leaves, though other material is sometimes
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