!94 



SCIEXCE-GOSSIP. 



nest in the centre of a tussock of the same kind of 

 grass near a large patch of ryegrass. 



While one of us proceeded to dig out those nests 

 with the greatest care, cutting out a sod three feet 

 long by two broad, the other went with a gun to a 

 large shallow pool close by, for some skins of avocets 

 and lesser terns. But those terns were very shy 

 and very difficult to get a shot at. With the avocets, 

 however, it was far easier. They were feeding in 

 the water, searching the bottom with their upturned 

 bills, and striking the queerest attitudes. When 

 disturbed they ran off with their heads and breasts 

 close to the ground. Finally one rose and charged 

 at the intruder, displaying the full glory of his 

 magnificent black and white feather designs. It 

 was a very easy shot, and a good one too, for not a 

 drop of blood stained the fine plumage. The terns, 

 however, were frightened away for the rest of the 

 forenoon. 



The nests were safely taken and put on the 

 bottoms of the "small trunk"; but what a 

 weight those grass-sods were. It was simply 

 impossible to proceed further, so we decided upon 

 carrying the other nests on loose boards to the 

 " small trunk "■ and then getting a horse and cart 

 to convey the whole to our headquarters. 



The next find was during the shower which had 

 long threatened. As we stood cowering beneath 

 the pouring rain, some downy, fluffy little balls on 

 the lee side of a bunch of grass, caught our eye. 

 Thev proved to be young plovers, only some days 

 old, a valuable addition to our other finds, which 

 included, too, a fine lapwing's and a tern's nest. 



When we entered the village in the evening, we 

 had ever}- reason to be contented with our first 

 day's work. 



Of course our stay in the island did not pass 

 unnoticed, and in the evening several villagers 

 dropped in for a chat, chiefly on birds. I had 

 noticed on a former occasion a very strange egg, 

 which I first had taken for an abnormal oyster- 

 catcher's. My friend, the teacher, possessed such 

 another shell, and strongly denied that it was an 

 oyster-catcher's It was a " botkol's " egg. The 

 bird laid it on small dykes and elevations near the 

 water, and was very shy. He dived immediately 

 when disturbed. Furthermore he was a great 

 destroyer of fishes, and might occasionally be 

 observed on a beacon in the sea, sunning and 

 fanning his wings. Now these latter features, 

 together with the etymology of the word " botkol," 

 (which means ' ' one who gluttonously devours 

 buts ") point clearly tow-ards the cormorant, whose 

 official Dutch name is " aalscholver " ("one who 

 gluttonously devours eels"). The egg, however, 

 differs widely from a cormorant's. It is about the 

 size of an oyster-catcher's, but rather more pointed. 

 The colour is whitish buff, with a few dark-brown 

 blotches and streaks, most of them near the larger 



end. The most characteristic feature, however, is 

 that the shell is not smooth but rough, as if it had 

 been rolled in dry sand which had stuck to it. If 

 it were not for this roughness the egg might be 

 taken for a Sandwich tern's. I need not say that 

 we were soon deeply interested, and that we resolved 

 to keep, the next day, a good look-out for the 

 botkol. 



It was a very bright day. No more threatening 

 rain -clouds, but only big brilliant white masses 

 gliding lazily in the soft blue hazy sky. We 

 followed at first a short cut through the meadows, 

 bordered bv small dykes, quite red with flowers of 

 stork's-bill and cranes-bill, while in the meadows 

 themselves a profusion of orchids in all possible 

 hues, from the purest white to deep purple, alter- 

 nated with yellow patches of Rhinanthus major. ' 

 Three cuckoos played in the grass, sometimes 

 uttering three syllables, at other times one, and at 

 other times again quite another sound — a succession 

 of clear metallic notes, much in the same manner 

 as a curlew's call. Cuckoos are very plentiful all 

 over the island, and not at all shy ; they are here 

 almost entirely meadow birds, since there are not 

 many woods, and their eggs are mostly found in 

 the nests of meadow-pipits, or even reed-buntings. 



Presently we crossed a dyke and a canal, and 

 soon came to a broad sheet of water, swarming 

 with avocets. Following this creek we entered 

 upon a bleak sandy desert, at the end of which 

 there w-ere little sand-hills covered with a spare 

 grass vegetation. Here our work began in real 

 earnest. First of all we shot five Sterna minuta by 

 first crippling one, the movements of the dying 

 bird inspiring his fellows with a fatal but irresist- 

 able curiosity. They would come screeching and 

 hovering over the body of their wounded com- 

 panion, and even return immediately when 

 frightened away by a missing shot. 



I fancy we couid have exterminated the whole 

 of the S. minuta in this spot, had we been willing 

 to do it, but we only killed the strictly necessary 

 number of those pretty little agile creatures. Their 

 nests consisted of a simple excavation in the dry 

 sand, sometimes with fragments of shells, and 

 contained three eggs of a very distinct Sterna type. 

 Then we divided to explore a grassy spot of about 

 two hundred acres, literally strewn with eggs. 

 First, some common terns', loose on the grass, 

 then a beautiful redshank's nest with four eggs, 

 then another, a yard from it a peewit's, then more 

 terns' — some of them in nests — and oystercatchers', 

 and a reeve's nest (like a redshank's, in the centre 

 of a tussock of grass, nearly completely hidden). 

 Some dozen young skylarks flutter away from 

 cover in a plot of Juncus ; we find, too, a nest with 

 half-fledged ones, and one with four downy callow 

 shivering things ; and again an endless succession 

 of eggs, till we have counted over three hundred 



