98 A Day in a Laguna 
In such cases I have good reason to believe the Marsh Harriers 
have devoured the others. More than once when I have put a 
Purple Heron off its nest I have seen a Marsh Harrier dash down 
and commence to eat the eggs, and I have sometimes disturbed 
one of these robbers in the act. 
On 26 April 1903 I found a number of Heron’s nests containing 
from one to four eggs all hard set (I tested them in the water to 
find this out) and all stained with blood, showing that the Harriers 
EGGS OF PURPLE HERON. 
(Size 2°4 in. X I°7 in.) 
had been at work among them. The Harriers seem to take toll of 
the first eggs laid, for curiously enough in another year I visited on 
13 May a number of nests in the same marsh all of which (save one 
with five) contained perfectly fresh eggs. The Harriers frequently 
lay their eggs in the Herons’ nests and must surely be most 
undesirable neighbours. 
At places in these lagunas there are extensive pools of open 
water and again narrow and sinuous channels which always look 
