184 



KNOWLEDGE. 



[August 1, 1899. 



Terns may be counted as among the most graceful of 

 birds, and to watch the varied motions of a colony of 

 whiskered or black terns is indeed a delight. Both these 

 terns build, floating upon the water, nests of grass and 

 rushes, but the black tern, judging from the many nests 

 which we examined, although making a smaller nest, 

 builds it much more compactly and raises it higher from 

 the water than the whiskered tern. In the middle of May we 

 found the nests in all stages. Many contained eggs, many 

 were half finished, and several were merely foundations of 

 a few pieces of rush placed across each other on the water. 



Frogs abounded in this marsh, and many storks were 

 wading often breast-high in the water in search of the 

 savoury reptiles, or were flying high overhead clapping 

 their beaks with a cup-cup-ciip-cup, that resembled the 

 sound of frogs croaking. 



We waded on some two or three miles, passing many a 

 colony of terns, and once more reached the shallow water, 

 where noisy stilts and redshanks began again to assert 

 themselves. 



Bedshanks are so abundant on our home marshes that 

 it is not necessary for me to say anything about them. 

 StUts are much like redshanks in many of their habits. 

 They are exceedingly noisy, especially when their nests 

 are approached, and although we admired them much and 

 watched them often we hated them on occasions when we 

 were seeking better game and our presence was made 

 known to everything within many yards by the " querep- 

 querep " of the stilts overhead. 



When feeding, stilts have also much the same action as 

 redshanks, especially in the way in which they continually 

 jerk their heads backwards and forwards. We found a 

 great many of their nests, and noticed that those placed 

 in swampy ground were built substantially, whereas those 

 on dryer ground were much less so, while several found 

 on quite dry ground were composed of nothing but a few 

 pieces of grass placed in a "scoop." The birds became 

 very much agitated when their nests were approached. 

 They flew over us calling loudly, and repeatedly 

 settled within a few yards of us, seeking to attract our 

 attention by running about and jumping into the air as if 

 they were dancing, then rapidly quivering their wings and 

 with gaping beaks chattering softly and continually. While 

 watching these birds we witnessed a curious little neigh- 

 bours' quarrel. A long-legged stilt was making little 

 rushes and dabs at a couple of redshanks, which looked 

 so short and quaint compared with their tormentor, and 

 all the time the three were uttering soft, but imprecatory 

 noises (swear words we imagined) at each other. 



The marsh was full of life. There were numerous 

 tortoises, difKcult to find amongst the weeds, and the 

 whole place was infested with myriads of dragon flies, 

 every rush being covered with its share of them. Once I 

 gave one of our men, who seemed to have nothing to do 

 but smoke the delicious cujarillo, a net, and showing him 

 a dragon fly told him to go and catch as many as he could, 

 as I wanted some for a friend. He went oif delighted, 

 and stayed away three hours and came back with one 

 butterfly ! Cigarettes and the sun were too much for him 

 when he had once sat down out of sight. 



On one occasion as we were watching some stilts and 

 ducks a peregrine falcon suddenly appeared circling over 

 their heads. The birds gradually became more and more 

 frightened, until at last they rose from the water and took 

 a short flight. Down came the falcon like a stone and 

 knocked a duck on to the water, and there he left it floating 

 keel uppermost. The ducks and stilts settled again, but 

 the falcon still circled overhead until the now terrified 

 birds rose again. This time he singled out a stilt, struck 



it in a flash, and left it like the duck floating on the water. 

 Apparently he was only practising or having some sport, 

 for he swept right away and left his victims limp and dead. 

 But a dead body is not left for long in this country where 

 hungry kites and birds of prey abound. One afternoon we 

 shot and lost a duck and a slender-billed gull ; ■ the next 

 morning we visited the spot again, and on the edge of the 

 marsh were two little heaps of feathers — one brown, the 

 other a delicate pink — all that was left of the duck and 

 the beautiful gull. 



On the dry ground some distance from the marsh, or 

 perhaps raised above it, many interesting birds were 

 nesting, and all betrayed their anxiety as we approached. 

 This they did in different ways, the pratincolesf with their 

 strong swallow-like flight whirled round our heads and 

 made as much noise and fuss as the stilts. They often 

 settled very near us, but instead of dancing like the stilts 

 they crouched, and spreading their long wings to the full 



Fis. 2. -Stilt's Nest strongly built in Wet Ground. 



extent rested them upon the ground. When they wish 

 to rise from this position and fly they invariably close their 

 wings, possibly because their legs are too short to raise 

 the wings sufficiently, but they run fast with their wings 

 closed. The eggs of this bird, two or three in number, 

 are laid side by side in a little scoop in the dry mud. They 

 are handsomely marked and mottled, but as their shape 

 and colour are similar to a stone or a piece of mud at a short 

 distance they are not easily discovered. There were other 

 birds nesting in this dry mud near the water. Black and 

 white avocets laid their four brown eggs in a hollow in the 

 mud, usually adorned by a feather or two — often a bright 

 pink one from a flamingo. In one spot we could stand 

 still and touch five separate nests with a gun, and our 

 horses sometimes trod on the eggs, so plentiful were they. 

 Avocets do not annoy one like stilts and pratincoles ; when 

 then- eggs are approached they fly round complaining for a 

 few minutes, and then go away to stand and await develop- 

 ments at a distance ; and so do the lesser terns J and Kentish 

 plovers, the eggs of which we also found on this mud. 



Besides many patches of tall reeds here and there in the 

 marsh, there were several long dykes very thickly grown 

 with reeds as high as small trees. These dykes resounded 

 with the hoarse and incessant croaking of great reed warblers 

 — small brown birds with loud harsh voices. As mentioned 



• Larvs gslastes. t Olareola pratincola. J Sterna iitiituta. 



