Bird Life in the Spanish Marismas 



309 



eaeli individual ])ird added its quota to the unceasing babel 

 of extraordinary croaks, oriuits, and groans witli wliicli all 

 the Heron family express tlieniselves. Tlie sand-dunes 

 around were also thickly co^'ered with masses of birds, 

 which would e\'ery now and then again rise and circle 

 round and round, protesting witli all their miglit against 

 oiu" intrusion into their own particular domain. The bushes 

 were full of their nests — mere sliglit platforms of sticks — 

 but there A\'ere as yet no eggs. 



JNIy work on tliis first day came to a most untimely 

 end ; for leaving the camera on its tripod in the water, 

 while I went ashore for a fresh supply of plates, during my 



'^«pwr '■"^^w^^ 



-.^w^ 



f,^^.Jir 



Pratincole {Glareo/a pratiiicota). 



absence it blew o\er into nearly four feet of water. Trying 

 to raise it, I got my bag of dark-slides wet ; and, in conse- 

 quence, e\'ery plate I had exposed was wasted. The gelatine 



