Bird Life in Dutch Marshes 241 



not an Iiour old, and two eggs wlicre tlie youno- cliicks liad the 

 tips of their beaks through the shell and were \ igorously 

 clamouring to be let out, I waited hidden tlie wliole day in the 

 hope of a photograph, l^ut no ; tlie parent birds obstinately 

 refused to return, though it was impossible for them to see me. 

 One Purple Heron, probably one of the pair to which the nest 

 belonged, alighted not five yards away from me, a little to one 

 .side of the nest on which the camera was focussed. 15ut so 

 .suspiciously did the bird watch my hiding-place that it was 

 impossible for me to turn the camera in its direction, and I 

 coidd only watch it myself Just in front of it, in a great state 

 of excitement, was a Reed-warbler ^'igorously scolding the 

 great long-legged Heron, and plainly betraying the nearness of 

 its own nest, which, sure enough, I afterwards found close at 

 liand with four eggs. If this Purple Heron had not been seen 

 alio'htinff, it is very doubtful whether it would ha\e been 

 recognised as a ])ird at all. The long, thin reddish-coloured 

 neck and head exactly resembled a reed-stem, while the 

 yellow beak looked like a dead leaf. 



The smell round all the nests of Herons and Spoonbills is 

 very strong and unpleasant, rivalling in evil odours a nesting- 

 place of Cormorants. One colony of Purple Herons was 

 strewn about witli small perch in ii state of decay, and the 

 stench was horrible. 



In this " meer "' the Common Herons also habitually nest 

 among the reeds exactly in the same way as the Purple 

 Herons. They are generally located in a far-away corner, 

 where the growtii of reeds is thickest and the depth of 



16 



