394 Mr. H. J. Elwes’s Meld-notes 
came across some fishermen who were shooting Wild Geese, 
and had with them a fine specimen of Anser brachyrhynchus, of 
which, at any rate, some part of the flock we saw was com- 
posed. Soon after I espied a Duck sitting on her nest in a 
perfectly bare spot near the shore, and found it was a Pintail, 
whose nine eggs were very much incubated. 
Some Redshanks’ nests, with snares in them, made us sus- 
pect the presence of ‘detrimentals” in the country; and 
after searching all over the “'Tipperne ” without seeing any 
Avocets, we began to fear a failure. A pair of Ring-Ouzels 
were hanging about the little hut where we lunched on various 
Danish luxuries, and a brood of young Ring-Plovers, whose 
quaint appearance is so well shown in Mr. Gould’s ‘ Birds of 
Great Britain,’ ran about amongst the stones. The flocks of 
Geese, disturbed by our party, collected together until they 
appeared to number thousands, the whole of the island show- 
ing traces of their constant presence. Not an Avocet ap- 
peared, until a boy with us spied something fluttering on a 
small outlying islet, separated only by a foot of mud and 
reeds from the main island. Rushing through the water 
towards it, we were delighted to find an Avocet snared on her 
nest, which contained four eggs, and at a few yards distance 
from it, on the same bare islet, without the least cover or 
attempt at concealment, other nests, containing four eggs 
each, except one, which had five. All of these nests had 
horsehair snares set in them, so it was extremely lucky that 
we had arrived in time, as on the morrow, no doubt, the eggs 
would have been gone. Whether this is a common practice, 
I cannot say; but it is evident that, unless stopped, Avocets 
will soon become exterminated, even in Denmark, as they 
are in Norfolk, and perhaps also in Holland. | 
A, single bird flew screaming over our heads for a moment, 
and wishing to see something more of them, I lay down be- 
hind a sand-hill at a short distance and watched with my 
telescope. In half an hour first one and then another of 
these most elegant birds appeared, flying with a rather short 
quick and Duck-like beat of the wings, chasing the Gulls 
which came near the place and settled near their nests. 
