THROUGH WILD EUROPE 255 



Hoopoes, of which I had seen the first on April 4, 

 in Albania, were now to be seen daily, and I shot 

 one this day (April 8), also a Little Owl {Athene 

 noctud). We saw a large flock of Reeves, and 

 stalked them successfully, after a long crawl on 

 hands and knees, only to miss them all ignomini- 

 ously. On the 15th of April we saw Whinchats 

 and Pied Flycatchers, and shot a Black Chat. On 

 this day we paid another visit to the White Heron 

 locality, and found four nests, in one of which was 

 one egg ; there were also Purple and Common 

 Herons, apparently nesting, or about to nest, in 

 close proximity. 



On the 15th of April I obtained a pair of Marsh 

 Sandpipers (Totanus stagnatilis) and a female 

 Lesser Kestrel. On the 22nd of April we visited 

 again the Heron colony. The nest which had held 

 one egg a week ago now had four, which I took. 

 It was built very high up in the reeds, so much so 

 that I had some difficulty in reaching the eggs from 

 the deep water in which I stood. I also took four 

 eggs of Ardea purpurea, the Purple Heron. As 

 there were many nests of the White Herons with 

 one egg only, I determined to leave them for some 

 days. On our way back Marco knocked over, with 

 a long shot, a fine Drake White-eyed Pochard 

 (Ficligtcla nyrocd). 



While waiting for more eggs from this colony I 



