1 88 BIRD-HUNTING 



islands just above the water. But there were also 

 several nests built underneath a rough sort of pent- 

 house formed by tying a handful of growing reeds in 

 a knot and bending down the upper part. Whether 

 these had been made by the boatmen purposely for 

 the Bearded Tits, or for some other purpose, and 

 taken advantage of by the birds, I do not know and 

 could not ascertain, for I was unable to talk to my 

 boatmen at all, except just the Latin names of the 

 birds. Even with Herr Cerva, who was in another 

 boat, I could only speak with difficulty, his know- 

 ledge of English being limited, and eked out with 

 the constant use of a small dictionary. But one thing 

 was certain, the men always looked under each of 

 these rough shelters for nests, and very often with 

 success. 



I hardly expected to find the Purple Heron 

 (Ardea purpurea) nesting at such a late date, but 

 on mentioning the name to my man he at once took 

 me to a small colony in an out-of-the-way corner. 

 The eggs were naturally much incubated, and no 

 nest held more than three eggs, most of them only 

 two, being probably second layings. 



On the way thither we passed two nests of the 

 Little Bittern {Ardetta minuta). The first had 

 been known of before by my boatman, but since his 

 last visit to the spot it had been looted by a Marsh 

 Harrier, and the broken egg-shells were strewed 



