86 Mr. H. '^oUe— Forty-four 
of bent rushes. I hatched one of the Crested Coot's e^gs in 
bed : the chick is very different from that of F. atra. 
&&^ 
Otis tarda. 
Common. Two eggs which we found on May 7th were 
placed on a bare spot in the middle of a large grass enclosure ; 
there was no nest — not even a scratch. The female must 
have run a long way from the eggs^ as she rose nowhere 
near them. On May 10th we obtained two more eggs. 
Both sets were slightly incubated. 
Otis tetrax. 
Local, but not rare. Little Bustards are often found in 
large grass enclosures devoted to the maturing of fighting- 
bulls, where it is not very safe to hunt for them. On April 23rd 
we found two nests, one with a single ^%^, the other with 
an Q^^^ lyiiig near, on which my man put his foot ! On 
April 30th we returned, and the nest with one ^^^ was empty, 
whilst the nest which had been empty contained one Q^^. 
I revisited the spot on May 12th, and found that both nests 
had been trampled upon by cattle. I hunted about, and 
eventually flushed a female ; took a cast back, and fifteen 
yards from where she rose found a nest of five beautiful olive- 
green eggs. I believe that this is an unusually large clutch. 
All three nests were rather deep scratches lined with a few 
bits of dead grass. The eggs were nearly fresh. 
CEdicnemus scolopax. 
The Thick-knee is common on the marismas. Several 
eggs were laid on the bare ground, without any sign of a nest, 
and often in the footprints of horses or cattle. Fresh eggs 
were found from. May 1st to May 26th ; they are sometimes 
laid at intervals of several days. 
Glareola pratincola. 
Abundant. It was not till May 12th that we found full 
sets of three e<xgs, laid on the sun-baked marismas. In one 
case two nests were within a few inches of each other. Pra- 
tincoles have a,curious trick of extending their wings on the 
ground and flapping them as if wounded, the head being 
