Ornithology of Northern Africa. 163 



the hand to a dollar in prospect. We remained for two days 

 at the Lake, sleeping at night on the hillside in an extemporized 

 gourhi of brushwood, just sufficiently up the slope to escape the 

 risk of malaria from the marsh. We found two nests of the 

 White-headed Duck {Erismatura mersa) among the sedge, con- 

 taining, the one three, the other eight eggs. These are very 

 large for the size of the bird, almost perfectly elliptical in shape, 

 and a line longer and wider than those of the Velvet Scoter, of 

 an extremely rough texture, unlike that of any other Duck, more 

 resembling the egg of the Bean Goose, but far more coarsely 

 grained, and of dull white colour. The habits and flight of the 

 bird are more like those of a Grebe than of a Duck ; it often 

 saves itself by diving, and remains under water for a consider- 

 able time. 



I saw several pairs of the Pochard [Fuligula ferina) and one 

 pair of Red-crested Whistling Ducks {F.rufina), but could not dis- 

 cover their nests. The White-eyed Duck [F. nyroca) seemed toler- 

 ably abundant on the Lake, and one nest rewarded our research. 

 At length we arrived on the southern side of the Lake, and pushed 

 through to the Heronries. Here we had to leave our punt, and 

 to struggle through the slime on foot. We soon came on a large 

 colony of Squacco Herons (Ardea comata), who were just be- 

 ginning to sit. About thirty or forty nests were scattei*ed about 

 in various directions, in a dense bed of reeds piled up to the 

 height of two or three feet from the mud, supported on tufts of 

 reeds, and composed of great heaps of water-weeds and rushes. 

 Each nest contained three or four eggs ; and very few were incu- 

 bated. The birds left as we approached, rising clumsily from 

 the reeds and making a deafening noise. The bright-green eg^^ 

 of the Squacco is, I presume, well known to all collectors, and 

 is of exactly the same tint as our Common Heron^s. Plunging 

 on a little further, we came upon the quarters of the Buff-backs 

 {Ardea bubulcus), who were in still greater numbers, and their 

 nests very closely packed. Among them, as they rose, I saw a few 

 Purple Ibis {Falcinellus igneus). The separate identification of 

 the uests was of course impossible ; but after some search, we dis- 

 covered two nests of Ibis, differing from the Herons in their less 

 lavish expenditure of materials, and containing each three eggs. 



