26 ON THE NESTING OF THE SPOONBILL IN HOLLAND. 



Ib p!'4i2. 7 ' 7. ON THE NESTING OF THE SPOONBILL IN HOL- 

 LAND. By P. L. SCLATER and W. A. FORBES.* 



THAT the Spoonbill (Platalea f leucorodia) breeds in Holland is a fact 

 well known to every ornithologist ; and most egg-collectors are aware 

 that specimens of its eggs obtained in that country are to be purchased 



at a very cheap rate in the London egg-shops. But we are not sure that 

 Ibis 1877 

 p.' 413. ' an J ornithologist, at least of this country, h#s actually visited the 



nesting-places of this bird, or, at any rate, has published any account of 

 them. In May 1867, as is recorded in Gould's ' Birds of Great Britain ' 

 (vol. iv. part 30), Sclater paid a visit to a nesting-place of he Spoonbill 

 at Nieuwerkerk, near Eotterdam ; but though he saw many Spoonbills, 

 the nesting had not then begun ; and the lake which he visited is said to 

 have been drained since that time. We hope therefore that it may 

 interest readers of ' The Ibis ' to have an account of our recent expe- 

 riences on this subject. 



Being in Holland in the first week of May this year, Sclater made 

 many inquiries as to where the Spoonbills could be seen performing the 

 duties of reproduction, and finally ascertained from Hr. A. A. Van Bem- 

 melen, Director of the Zoological Gardens at Eotterdam, that the most 

 likely place to witness this interesting phenomenon was the .Horster 

 Meer, between Amsterdam and Utrecht. At Amsterdam it was ascer- 

 tained that the first week in July would be a convenient period for the 

 proposed excursion with this object, as about that time the birds would 

 have commenced incubation. 



On the 3rd of July, therefore, we found ourselves at the Amstel Hotel, 

 at Amsterdam ; and upon visiting Mr. Hegt, the Assistant-Director of 

 the Zoological Society's Gardens there, found that he had kindly made 

 every necessary arrangement for our proposed expedition next day. No 

 railway-station being very convenient for the Horster Meer, he had 

 ordered a carriage to take us from Amsterdam to the scene of action. 



Next morning we started about 8 o'clock, and had about three hours' 

 drive, passing the villages .of Abgouda and Vreeland before arriving at 

 Overmeer an de Vecht, the little village in which Hr. van Dyk, the lessee 

 of the Horster Meer, resided. The Horster Meer consists of a large 

 tract of water reed- beds and swamp, lying on the right bank of the Vecht, 

 and immediately to the south of the Zuyder Zee. It is between the 



* Ibis, 1877, pp. 412-416. 



t Mr. Dresser (B. Eur. pt. 23-24) uses Platea as the generic name of the Spoonbill 

 instead of Platalea. It may be hoped, however, that this is a mere oversight, and that 

 Mr. Dresser is not prepared to dissent from the canon that Linnean names are to 

 remain inyiolate. 



