2 THE HOME-LIFE OF 



ahead of us. Until this moment we had not heard a 

 sound or received the sHghtest indication of the birds' 

 presence. It was the " squork " of a Purple Heron 

 which had broken the stillness, and seemed to give the 

 signal for the general alarm. Now all was tumult and 

 confusion, the great white Spoonbills sweeping past in 

 every direction, their necks outstretched and legs trailing 

 straight out behind ; and as we poled the boat on the 

 Purple Herons flapped noisily out of the reeds, joining 

 the company wheeling overhead. 



We were now on the outskirts of the colony, and here 

 and there, looming white through the reeds, could be made 

 out the great flat nests. They were very simple structures, 

 not unlike a large edition of that made by our Common 

 Coot. Built on the stumps of last year's broken reeds 

 (Plate i), they generally stood some eighteen inches 

 above the water. Sometimes, however, their bases touched 

 the surface, in which case they were sufficiently thick and 

 bulky to raise the cup high and dry above its sodden 

 foundation. All were very much alike, the stems of 

 dead reeds with the few broad leaves attached to them 

 seeming to be the only building material, and it was 

 noticeable that such of last year's reeds as were standing 

 near the nests were untouched, as though the birds 

 were unwilling to lessen the cover screening them ; 

 though from what enemy they sought concealment was 

 not obvious, and it was probably only an expression 

 of their inherent desire for seclusion. Certainly, so far 

 as could be seen, the bulk of the material had been 

 brought from a distance, and later I often saw the 

 birds arriving with long reeds trailing from their bills. 



Cutting a way and poling the boat through the 

 reeds, left a terrible gap, and lest this permanent and 

 wholesale disturbance should cause the birds alarm, we 

 decided not to penetrate further into the colony, and 

 selected a site for the hiding-tent, which was within a 

 workable distance of two nests, so that if for any reason one 



