Mr. H. Durnford on North-Frisian Ornithology. 397 



Crex pratensis. 



A single bird rose at our feet while hunting over some 

 sedgy and heathy ground at the south end of Amrum. 



CiCONIA ALBA. 



Common in every village, and almost every homestead, on 

 the mainland, but not observed on the islands, except a pair 

 on the coast of Fohr, which had probably crossed over as 

 visitors. 



H^MATOPUs osTRALEGUs. Frisicc " Caulite.'' 

 Common on the islands and mainland. Has its nest on 

 the sandhills or shingle of the beach. I observed one swim- 

 ming in the sea off Sylt. "We reckoned about a hundred 

 pairs nesting on Sudfall. 



Recurvirostra avocetta. Frisice '^ Diicker.^^ 

 On the 28th May we saw three or four pairs of Avocets 

 feeding in a marsh on the left bank of the Creek near Husum, 

 and shot a female bird containing an egg in a forward state, as 

 she flew from a marsh on the right side of the creek. The nests 

 were evidently in the latter place, as the two birds feigned lame- 

 ness j but after a long and unsuccessful hunt we gave up the 

 search. On the 30th we again visited the marsh, but found 

 labourers engaged in it and no Avocets ; on walking past the 

 men's coats, which had been thrown in a heap on the groimd, 

 we saw lying there three Avocet's eggs among some Tern's and 

 Kentish Plover's. They had found them whilst working on 

 the marsh, and gave them to us. We watched several birds 

 on the 7th June, as well as on a previous occasion, for fully 

 half an hour, through good glasses, feeding on the soft ooze, 

 and we never detected any lateral motion of the beak ; they 

 took their food like ordinary surface-feeding Sandpipers. We 

 did not see this species on any of the islands or elsewhere on 

 the mainland. 



Vanellus cristatus. 



Common everywhere, and a perfect nuisance to us ; for 

 whenever we wanted to watch any bird a screaming Peewit 

 was sure to be circling overhead. 



