66 EGGS OF BEITISH BIRDS. 



been obtained in our islands. It is a summer migrant to 

 Europe south of the Baltic, and is a resident in the Azores, 

 Madeira, Algeria, and to a limited extent in Egypt, wintering 

 in small numbers in Africa. It is a summer visitor to Palestine, 

 Asia Minor, Persia, Baluchistan, Cashmere, and North-west 

 Turkestan. 



The nest of the Little Bittern is generally placed amongst the 

 dense vegetation of its marshy haunts. Sometimes it is built 

 amongst reeds a few inches above the water, and is often at a 

 considerable distance from the shore. The nest is very large for 

 the size of the bird, loosely put together, and made of pieces of 

 aquatic vegetation, sometimes a few twigs, and lined with finer 

 materia], such as grass or dead leaves of the reed. 



The eggs are from four to five in number, and pure white in 

 colour. They soon become stained by contact with the bird's 

 feet and the damp materials of the nest. Their small size and 

 colour is a sufficient distinction from the eggs of all the other 

 Herons. They vary in length from 1*45 to 1'29 inch, and in 

 breadth from 1'05 to 0'98 inch. They are oval in shape ; the 

 shell is fine, but closely pitted with small pores. 



THE SPOONBILL. 



(Platalea leucorodia.) 



Plate 18, Figs. 2, 3. 



The Spoonbill was formerly a regular summer visitor to 

 England, and bred in the marshes of Norfolk, Suffolk and other 

 counties, but it appears to have been exterminated at the close 

 of the 17th century. This bird, like most of its Herodian allies, 

 has a most extensive range, reaching from the Atlantic to the 

 Pacific ; but owing to the rapid increase of population its breeding- 

 colonies are now few and far between. 



Most of the nests which I visited in Holland were built on 

 grassy tussocks, but a few of them were in the alder trees three 

 or four feet above the ground. The greater part of the nests 

 were built upon a foundation of a few sticks, the principal struc- 

 ture being of dead reeds lined with dry grass. 



The eggs of the Spoonbill are four or five in number, and vary 

 much in size, shape, and colour ; some are long and narrow, with 



