262 Pictures of Bird Life 



Oyster-catc'liers and Common Terns were nesting on 

 the sliort turf, and I^esser Terns on tlie shingly patches, 

 while the little pools were inhabited by numerous 151ack- 

 headed Gulls. 



Tlie llufts. or rather the Reeves, were presmnably 

 tending tlieir young in the meadows, M'liere they also nest, 

 like the Godwits, and we saw very little of them. 



In this place I had tlie advantage of a guide wlio could 

 speak very good English, and liad, besides, a knowledge 

 of the different birds, and where tliey were to be met 

 with. In most I^utch towns there is very little difficulty 

 with the language, as almost everybody with any education 

 speaks English perfectly well. The upper classes invariably 

 speak it with amazing fluency and correctness. In my three 

 visits to the '* nicer," however, I have failed to find a soul 

 who could understand or speak one single word of English. 

 Twice have I spent a week there — once in a large farm- 

 house, and again at the keeper's cottage — without being 

 able to communicate with anybody, save by signs. 



Tlie whole of each day was spent with a young Dutch- 

 man, the son of the keeper, who punted me about from one 

 nest to another, and acted as guide among the intricate 

 channels of the "nicer." Here, attain, all communication 

 was by signs, helped by a few Dutch words left by my 

 Dutch friends in my pocket-book when they drove me over 

 and made all arrangements for my stay. Above all, the 

 Dutch names of all the birds to be met with were pro- 

 vided ; and with these I got on very m ell, especially as my 



