28 On the GuadaJ quiver, 



over the water searching for prey, which they dashed 

 down upon with a graceful plunge, captured, and had 

 eaten almost before the water had run off their sharp 

 wings and elegant body in a glittering spray. 



Terns may be counted as among the most graceful of 

 birds, and to watch the varied motions of a colony of 

 whiskered or black terns is indeed a delight. Both these 

 terns build, floating upon the water, nests of grass and 

 rushes, but the black tern, judging from the many nests 

 which we examined, although making a smaller nest, 

 builds it much more compactly and raises it higher from 

 the water than the whiskered tern. In the middle of May we 

 found the nests in all stages. Many contained eggs, many 

 were half finished, and several were merely foundations of 

 a few pieces of rush placed across each other on the water. 



Frogs abounded in this marsh, and many storks were 

 wading often breast-high in the water in search of the 

 savoury reptiles, or were flying high overhead clapping 

 their beaks with a cup-ciip-cup-cup, that resembled the 

 sound of frogs croaking. 



We waded on some two or three miles, passing many a 

 colony of terns, and once more reached the shallow water, 

 where noisy stilts and redshanks began again to assert 

 themselves. 



Redshanks are so abundant on our home marshes that 

 it is not necessary for me to say anything about them. 

 Stilts are much like redshanks in many of their habits. 

 They are exceedingly noisy, especially when their nests 

 are approached, and although we admired them much and 

 watched them often we hated them on occasions when we 

 were seeking better game and our presence was made 

 known to everything within many yards by the '* querep- 

 querep " of the stilts overhead. 



