336 Pictures of Bird Life 



On first {iiTi\'al in Jutland, to our orcut disappointnient 

 we saAV at once tliat ^ye were nearly a fortnight too earlv. 

 An exceptionally late and cold spring- had so delayed 

 matters that some of tlie birds had only just arrived, and 

 had barely commenced to nest, the first days work only 

 resulting in finding a few Redshanks' and Peewits' eggs. 



The fjord, which runs inland for nearly thirty miles 

 through a narrow entrance, is \'ery shallow and studded 

 with numerous islets only a few inches above high water, 

 and surrounded by sand-dunes and salt marslies. It is 

 an ideal spot for Terns, Cxulls, Plovers, and marsh-birds 

 generally, and is in springtime resorted to by many 

 thousands of birds, wliich find here a congenial spot in 

 which to nest and ])ring up their young broods. Running- 

 down under sail in a small boat belonging to one of the 

 fishermen — who spoke, by the way, excellent English — we 

 found, on May 7th, tliat, if eggs were scarce, the birds 

 themselves were present in inunense numbers. Field- 

 glasses in hand, we were hard at work identifying the 

 various species. Our destination was some distant islands 

 up the fjord, to reach which necessitated, after sailing six 

 or eight miles, walking o\'er a marshy promontory, carrying 

 the cameras (four miles each way), and then wading to 

 the islands in question, where we hoped to find the birds 

 a little more advanced than on the mainland. On our 

 way we saw numbers of Kentish and l^inged Plo^'ers on 

 the shingly shores and sandy islets. A\^iding in the shallow 

 water were numerous Avocets, Redshanks, and Dunlins ; 



