206 IN DUTCH WATER MEADOWS 



diamonds, like a shepherd's plaid. Two were, or 

 appeared to us to be, ruffs and all, whole coloured, the 

 one a neat uniform slate grey, the other cinnamon. 

 Another, a great beauty, had a ruff of the darkest 

 glittering purple shot with blue. The eggs of the Keevo 

 are smaller and more highly polished than those of the 

 Redshank, which they generally resemble, and are 

 commonly more richly and uniformly spotted. The 

 age at which the Ruff in a wild state justifies his name 

 and dons his Elizabethan collar, is a little doubtful; 

 but there is not much doubt that it is not until he is at 

 least two years old. 



Our attention had been so much occupied with the 

 larger and more obtrusive birds, that we had not much 

 time left for the little birds. But among many which 

 elsewhere would have been remarkable were a pair of 

 Blue-headed Wagtails, with breasts of vivid yellow, 

 and a third Wagtail almost pure white. The last was 

 in company with a female of the ordinary 'pied' 

 species, of which it was probably an accidental albino 

 variety. We saw it twice at an interval of an hour or 

 two, at the same spot, beside a ditch, where it probably 

 had a nest. 



To the south of our polder lay a narrow tract of 

 sand-hills which, seen through the shimmering heat 

 from the dead level of the old sea-bottom, looked like a 

 distant mountain-range. It was a pleasant change, 

 after having been scolded for hours in shrill tones 

 in every key, to climb the first ridge and drop into 



