SCIENCE-GOSSIP 



63 



island, but no nests were found. Some inhabitants 

 assert they are breeding in a certain locality, but as 

 the islanders are very proud of the richness of bird- 

 life in their district, I fear they are sometimes given 

 a little to exaggeration. I never saw a single 

 spoonbill's egg in any of the numerous boy- 

 collections I examined when staying there. But 

 even without spoonbills a list of the Texel birds 

 is attractive enough, the more so that there is no 

 reason for placing "rare" or " very rare" behind 

 any of the names. In 1890, I furnished Mr. 

 Candler, of Charleston, with a list which was then 

 printed in the " Transactions" of the Norfolk and 

 Norwich Naturalists' Society. At that time I had 

 stayed in Texel for only one season, so that the list 

 could not be quite correct. Since then 1 have been 

 able to rectify it. 



Kestrel 

 Barn Owl 



Great Grey Shrike ( ? 

 Red-backed Shrike 

 Spotted Flycatcher 

 Golden Oriole 

 Song Thrush 

 Blackbird 

 Hedge Sparrow- 

 Robin 

 Wheatear 

 Stonechat 



Icterine Warbler . . 

 Great Reed- Warbler 

 Reed Warbler 

 Sedge Warbler 

 Whitethroat 

 Garden Warbler . . 

 Blackcap 

 Willow Wren 

 Chiffchaff 

 Wren 

 Redstart 

 Great Titmouse 

 Blue Tit 

 Marsh Tit . . 

 White Wagtail 

 Yellow Wagtail 

 Tree Pipit 

 Meadow Pipit 

 Tawny Pipit 

 Skylark 

 Crested Lark 

 Yellow Hammer 

 Common Bunting . . 

 House Sparrow 

 Greenfinch 

 Linnet 

 Chaffinch 

 Starling 

 Rook 

 Carrion-Crow 



Falco iinnunculiis 

 Strix flamnua 

 Lanius excubitor 

 Lanius collurio 

 Mitscicapa grisola 

 Oriolus galbula 

 Tardus music us 

 Tardus merula 

 Accentor modularis 

 Erithacus rubecula 

 Saxicola cenantiie 

 Pratincola rubicola 

 Hypolais icterina 

 Acroccphalus turdoidcs 

 Acrocephalits streperus 

 Acroccphalus ph ragm it is 

 Sylvia cinerea 

 Sylvia horlensis 

 Sylvia atricapilla 

 Phylloscopus trochilus 

 Phylloscopus rufus 

 Troglodytes parvulus 

 Ruticilla phanicurus 

 Paries major 

 Paries ccerulcus 

 Pants palustris 

 Motacilla alba 

 Motacilla raii 

 Ant hits trivialis 

 Anllius pratensis 

 Antlius campestris 

 Alauda arvensis 

 Alauda cristata 

 Emberiza citrinella 

 Emberiza miliaria 

 Passer domesticus 

 Ligurinus chloris 

 Acantliis cannabina 

 Fringilla ccelebs 

 Sturuus vulgaris 

 Corvus frugilcgus 

 Corvus corone 



Magpie 



Swallow 



House-Martin 



Nightjar 



Reed Bunting 



Sand Martin 



Swift 



Cuckoo 



King Dove . . 



Turtle Dove 



Quail 



Landrail 



Coot 



Stone-Curlew 



Lapwing 



Oystercatcher 



Kentish Plover 



Avocet 



Ruff and Reeve 



Redshank 



Godwit 



Curlew 



Black Tern . . 



Sandwich Tern 



Common Tern 



Little Tern . . 



Black-headed Gull 



Common Gull 



Herring Gull 



Cormorant . . 



Heron 



Sheldrake 



Wild Duck .. 



Shoveler 



Pintail 



Teal 



Waterhen 



Grebe 



Little Grebe 



/': ,/ rustica 

 II n it mil) ntslica 

 Chelidon urbica 

 Caprimulgus europa its 

 Emberiza schte nidus 

 Cutile riparia 

 Cypselus apus 

 Cuculus canorus 

 Columba palumbiis 

 T itrt itr communis 

 Cotumix communis 

 Crex pratensis 

 Fulica atra 

 CEdicncmits scolopax 

 Vanillin vulgaris 

 Httinatopus ostralcgus 

 Mgialitis caniiana 

 Recurvirostra avocet la 

 Machetes pugnax 

 Totanus calidris 

 Limosa cegocephala 

 Numenius arquata 

 Ilydrochclidon nigra 

 Sterna cantiaca 

 Sterna fluviatilis 

 Sterna miniita 

 Larits ridibiindus 

 Larus caiius 

 Larus argentatus 

 Phalacrocorax carbo 

 Ardea cinerea 

 Tadoma cornuta 

 Anas boscas 

 Spatula clypeata 

 Dafila acuta 

 Querquediila crecca 

 Gallinula chloropus 

 Podicepcs cristatus 

 Podicipes fluviatilis 



Dresser, in his " Birds of Europe," tells that 

 the icterine warbler is a shy bird. On Texel it 

 is so not at all ; when singing in the top of some 

 small tree it may be very closely approached. It is 

 found in every garden and wood all over the island. 

 The cuckoo, too, is very plentiful, and not at all 

 shy. The ruffs have regular fighting, or rather 

 playing, grounds, where they may be found every 

 springtime ; their nests are very cleverly concealed 

 in tussocks of grass. The sitting bird is not easily 

 disturbed, it will rise under your very feet. The god- 

 wits, avocets, gulls and terns are very clamorous 

 when their domains are intruded upon, so are 

 the lapwings and redshanks. They will speedily 

 attract some keeper, for the birds are preserved. 

 Permission to look for the birds, or even for nests 

 and eggs, is, however, readily granted by different 

 proprietors, for, as a rule, the inhabitants of. the 

 island are kind-hearted and hospitable men. 

 1, Hclmersstraat 171, Amsterdam. 



