516 BRITISH BIRDS. 



of the organs of voice ; and Dresser is in error in ascribing to Naumann 

 the statement that its note " is deep and Heron-like." 



The most accessible breeding-colony of the Spoonbill is situated on the 

 banks of the Horster Meer, a lake situated between Amsterdam and 

 Utrecht. I paid a visit to this colony late in May 1880, in the company 

 of Captain Elwes. The country is very flat, and bears a striking resem- 

 blance to the broads of Norfolk. Stretching away on each side of the 

 road, almost as far as the eye could reach, nothing was to be seen but 

 lakes, swamps, marshes, and willow-beds, intersected by a river, and in a 

 few places, where the ground was firm enough for pasture, with dykes. 

 We soon found the lessee of the meer, who informed us that he paid a 

 rent of about £430 a year for the right of fishing, shooting in winter, 

 collecting eggs in summer, and gathering an annual crop of willow-twigs 

 for basket-making. We rowed for a short distance between willow-beds 

 until the dyke became too narrow for oars, when our guide jumped on to 

 the bank and towed us along for some distance. Occasionally we saw a 

 Black Tern or a Cormorant, and at length had the pleasure of seeing two 

 pairs of Spoonbills. On landing we found ourselves on marshy ground 

 thickly overgrown with reeds and sedges, amongst which were growing 

 two rare species of British ferns, Lastrcea thelipteris in great abundance 

 and LastrcRa cristata somewhat sparingly. The ground was also con- 

 siderably diversified by a display of wild flowers, such as marsh-mallow, 

 ragged robin, &c. To our right alder and willow bushes appeared to 

 extend indefinitely ; but to the left open ground led to the meer, on the 

 banks of which a large colony of Cormorants, consisting of at least five 

 hundred birds, were breeding. Turning our backs on this interesting 

 colony for the present, we entered the alder-and- willow thicket, and after 

 some time suddenly came upon the object of our search. A flock of at 

 least two or three hundred Spoonbills rose from behiud the alder bushes, 

 their white wings glittering in the sun in strong contrast to their black 

 legs stretched out behind, and their long necks and dark bills projecting 

 so conspicuously in front. For some time they flew about like Gannets 

 at the Bass Rock ; but we never heard them utter a cry. We made for 

 the direction in which they rose, and after wandering backwards and 

 forwards for some time at length came upon three nests contaiuing eggs, 

 and we were not long in finding the main colony, which consisted of per- 

 haps fifty nests, all contained within a radius of about twenty yards. The 

 nests are robbed every Saturday and the eggs sold, and few of them 

 contained more than one egg. Most of the nests were built on grassy 

 tussocks, but a few of them were in the alder trees three or four feet 

 above the ground ; and the effluvium from the droppings of the birds was 

 very strong, and would have been disagreeable had not a strong gale been 

 blowing all the day. Upon our invasion of their nesting-grounds, most 



