THE ZOOLOGIST. 
THIRD SERIES. 
Vou. IV.] NOVEMBER, 1880. [No. 47. 
weve? TO THE COLONY OF SPOONBIDLS 
NEAR AMSTERDAM. 
By Henry Srersoum, F.Z.S. 
In ‘The Ibis’ for 1877, Dr. Sclater and Mr. Forbes, the 
Secretary and Prosector of the Zoological Society of London, 
wrote a most interesting account of their visit to the Horster 
Meer, between Amsterdam and Utrecht, and strongly advised 
their brother ornithologists, who should be travelling in Holland, 
by no means to miss seeing the nesting-place of the Spoonbills. 
In the spring of the present year Capt. Elwes and I spent some 
time in Jutland, and on our return journey we went out of 
our way to follow the advice of Dr. Sclater, and were so much 
interested in what we saw that I can only recommend all readers 
of ‘ The Zoologist’ who are interested in bird-nesting to go and 
do likewise. I have seen many breeding colonies of birds in 
various parts of the world, but seldom one which interested me 
more than the one concerning which I extract a few notes from 
my journal. 
When I was in Amsterdam last year with Dr. Sclater, he 
introduced me to M. Westermann, the Director, and to M. Hegt, 
the Assistant-Director, of the excellent Zoological Gardens of 
that city. Immediately on our arrival in Amsterdam we visited 
the Gardens, and expressed our wish to the gentlemen I have 
named to visit Horster Meer. With the kindness which I have 
invariably received from all continental ornithologists, they not 
only gave us every information we required, but provided us with 
a guide, whose local knowledge of Botany and Zoology largely 
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