356 Mr. 0. Salvia's Five Months' Birds' -nesting 



times saw a small flock. We arrived there too late to obtain 

 their eggs. 



112. Herodias garzetta (Little Egret). 



The marsh of Zana, which I have occasionally mentioned 

 above, is one of those places where the Waders and Ducks seem 

 to delight in congregating; and, as the swampy ground is of 

 very limited extent, ie'iv spots furnish a richer feast to the eye 

 of a devotee to the science of Ornithology. Our tents were 

 pitched close to the springs at the western end of the lake, not 

 far from the Marabout of Sidi el Hadj ben Ameer, an unim- 

 posing edifice erected to the memory of a saint of peculiar 

 sanctity, but then tenanted only by a pair of Storks {Ciconia 

 alba) and their young brood. My favourite walk in the 

 morning was to take a circuit of the marsh. Starting at 

 break of day, the first sound that assailed my ears was the 

 harsh note of Sylvia turddides — a small patch of reeds, not 

 60 yards from our tents, being occupied by a pair of these 

 ceaseless chatterers. Attention would next be called to the 

 Storks on the Marabout, which, on any one approaching, 

 would make their young crouch down in their nest, while they, 

 standing over, would assume an expression calculated to lead 

 one to suppose that they were perfectly innocent of the exist- 

 ence of the young brood at their feet. As I walk on a few 

 yards further to escape the din of a noisy colony of Spanish 

 Sparrows [Passer salicicola), and stand still, the morning air 

 bears from the neighbouring reeds the soft rattling note of 

 Savi's Warbler {Locustella savii) to my ears, and I see the little 

 songster perched on the extremity of the tallest reed, pouring 

 forth its peculiar song, which, now swelling, now softening, 

 has given to the bird the title of a ventriloquist. A few yards 

 further, and the Pratincoles {Glareola pratincola) attract my 

 attention by their incessant cries and furious attacks, as if 

 resenting my intrusion in their domain. Among them may 

 be a few Stilts [Himantopus melanopterus) , which, after making 

 a circuit overhead, alight close to a small pool of water. In 

 this are seen some Shovellers and White-eyed Ducks {Spatula 

 clypeata and Nyroca leucophthalma) , which allow me to survey 

 them with my telescope, but on closer inspection betake them- 



