122 A VISIT. TO. POCHARD ISLAND — 
crows. An informant thought herons had 
done the deed. There was a heronry about 
six miles away, and this distance would not 
be much for these big birds to cover. But 
herons are not, I think, egg-robbers. If it had 
been these birds they must have come over 
in the night, for none were seen there in the 
daytime, and they feed at night. Any one 
who has the opportunity and will listen for 
their hoarse ‘ quawks’ cannot fail just after 
sundown, or at any time before sunrise, to 
catch sight of their great forms outlined 
against the sky, flying slowly along, high up, 
their legs dangling out behind, going to water 
somewhere. 
Amongst the branches of a good-sized 
willow that had toppled from the bank of 
Carrion Crow Island and lay half submerged, 
we were surprised to observe a large floating 
nest. We were glad to see that it contained 
one egg. The egg was much likea moorhen’s 
(see Part I, p. 120) but larger and more pointed, 
with the same brown but smaller and more 
numerous spots; the ground colour was a 
