THE SPOONBILL. 7 



edge, and this done she performed a lengthy toilet, 

 running her feathers through the unwieldy bill. Neither 

 nest-building nor feather-preening could have been the 

 object in view when that bill was fashioned, and she 

 found it but a poor tool for either. She took not the 

 slightest notice of her chicks, which all this time had been 

 vainly trying to reach some more interesting part of her 

 than the long bare legs. 



The parent Spoonbills have a constant, and what to 

 the chicks, panting for want of shade, must be a most 

 exasperating habit, that of standing almost motionless on 

 their nests by the half-hour together, without paying the 

 slightest attention to or apparently even noticing the 

 clamorous youngsters crawling at their feet (Plate 4). 

 So frequent is this habit that I began to fear now the 

 camera was turned away from the nest containing eggs 

 that I should leave the marsh without securing a picture 

 of the sitting bird, and it was with no small pleasure that 

 towards evening I saw her bend forward until the long 

 bill nearly reached the nest and doubling her long legs 

 under her sit down (Plate 5). 



That evening, as the boat returned, my brother took 

 a Httle snap of the hiding-tent, with its inhabitant 

 peering anxiously out, awaiting release (Plate 6), and it 

 is interesting as showing the relative positions of the nest 

 and screen. At the end of the channel will be noticed 

 a light-coloured lump — the nest of Plates i and 2. Of 

 course it must be understood that where open water is 

 now seen was originally dense reeds, uniform with those 

 standing around, the passage of the punt having broken 

 them down. 



Although the view is taken from the back of the tent, 

 where concealment was least necessary, it must be 

 admitted that it is far from conspicuous. 



By the 23rd the colony had got so accustomed to my 

 presence, or rather to that of the screen concealing me, 

 that the boat now hardly reached the open mere before 



