is on to its junction
with the stream of the other valley; then up the second defile. His
flight is exceedingly swift. His song is a loud, clear, cheerful strain,
the very quintessence of gladness as it mingles with the roar of the
cataracts.

Farther up Ute Pass I found another nest, which was placed right back
of a cascade, so that the birds had to dash through a curtain of spray
to reach their cot. They also were feeding their young, and I could see
them standing on a rock beneath the shelf, tilting their bodies and
scanning me narrowly before diving into the cleft where the nest was
hidden. This nest, being placed back of the falls, could not be reached.

In Bear Creek canyon I discovered another inaccessible nest, which was
placed in a fissure at the very foot of the falls and only an inch or
two above the agitated waters. There must have been a cavity running
back into the rock, else the nest would have been kept in a soggy
condition all the time.

Perhaps the most interesting dipper's nest I found was one at the
celebrated Seven Falls in the south Cheyenne Canyon. On the face of the
cliff by the side of the lowest fall there was a cleft, in which the
nest was placed, looking like a large bunch of moss and grass. My glass
brought the structure so near that I could plainly see three little
heads protruding from the doorway. There were a dozen or more people
about the falls at the time, who made no attempt at being quiet, and yet
the parent birds flew fearlessly up to the nest with tidbits in their
bills, and were greeted with loud, impatient cries from three hungry
mouths, which were opened wide to receive the food. The total plunge of
the stream over the Seven Falls is hundreds of feet, and yet the adult
birds would toss themselves over the abyss with reckless abandon, stop
themselves without apparent effort in front of their cleft, and thrust
the gathered morsels into the little yellow-lined mouths. It was an
aerial feat that made our heads dizzy. This pair of birds did not fly up
the face of the falls in ascending to the top, as did those at Rainbow
Falls, but clambered up the wall of the cliff close to the side of the
roaring cataract, aiding themselves with both claws and wings. When
gathering food below the falls, they would usually, in going or
returning, fly in a graceful curve over the heads of their human
visitors.

[Illustration: _Water-Ousel_

"_Three hungry mouths, which were opened wide to rece