n8 In Dutch Water Meadows. 



"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 another world. Excepting when, every now and 

 then birds, singly or in pairs, passed overhead, the 

 noisy tribes of the flat lands and ditches were left 

 behind, and not a sound was to be heard louder than 

 the gentle rattle of the Dry Bent as it moved in the 

 breeze, the trill of one or other of the little warblers, 

 which in summer time are commoner, perhaps, in 

 Holland than anywhere, or the song of a distant Lark 

 in a sky, the faint blue of which blended perfectly 

 with the pale browns and yellows of sand and 

 bleached grasses. 



As we sat among the sand-hills enjoying the calm, 

 three Hares, smaller and darker than our own 

 Lowland Hares, followed a few minutes later by a 

 fourth, passed within ten yards without noticing us. 



Our first day in Texel was past and gone, a pleasant 

 recollection only. A second and a third, as pleasant, 

 followed, to fly as fast. 



In a slushy water-meadow, eight or nine miles from 

 our first hunting ground, we stood in the middle of 

 colonies of the Black and " Common " Terns, which 

 bred in sociable company with Godwits and Black- 

 headed Gulls. 



We had wondered at the courage of the slender 

 Avocets when man or bird approached their nests. 



