THROUGH WILD EUROPE 171 



thought I had left a plain track of broken reeds 

 straight to the spot. But, no ; we lost ourselves 

 completely, and not only could we not find the nest, 

 but we had considerable difficulty in finding our way 

 out again. 



When once we had entered the water the reeds 

 towered over our heads to the height of six or 

 eight feet, and it was impossible to tell in which 

 direction we were going. High mountains were 

 on three sides of us, but it was impossible to see 

 them, or, in fact, to see anything more than a yard 

 away. 



We had to leave the nest for that day, and it was 

 only after two hours more hard work on the next 

 day that we succeeded in finding it again. By that 

 time one of the four eggs had hatched, and the 

 other three were on the point of doing the same. 

 It was only by a very prompt and rough surgical 

 operation with my knife that I was able to save 

 them. 



Not far from this nest we then found more than a 

 dozen nests of the Common Heron and the Great 

 White Heron. Each of these contained young birds, 

 the Common Herons nearly fledged, the White 

 Herons in all stages, from a few days to a couple of 

 weeks or more. There were no more eggs, so that 

 I was only just in the nick of time to obtain any at 

 all ; another hour's delay and I should have been 



