326 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



the rolling "campo" of Uruguay, where the call of the " Teru- 

 Teiu<" was a common sound at night. 



Sept. 29th. To Amsterdam. Teal again for dinner, these 

 little ducks being evidently numerous just then. 



Sept. 30th. To Zandpoort, where there is a bit of legitimate 

 Holland, so to put it : high ground like the sandy parts of Norfolk, 

 with sand, fir-trees, and scrub-oak, and always dry land, before 

 the Dutch poached on the sea. But we only saw Jays and a 

 Green Woodpecker. From Zandpoort we walked to Haarlem, 

 through pretty agricultural country and the village of Bloemen- 

 daal, noted for its villas and gardens, and just then remarkable 

 for its glorious beds of Begonias; but we hardly saw a bird. We 

 returned to Amsterdam by train. 



October 1st. A voyage in a wherry to the island of Marken, 

 in the Zuiderzee, yielded us nothing but the sight of Black-headed 

 Gulls, Peewits, and Starlings; nor were we more lucky when 

 visiting Monnikendam and Broek, the noted clean village; so 

 turned our attention to the dairying industry and old silver. But 

 when the summer migrants are here the reed-grown drains must 

 be a grand place for river warblers, and the little fruit-gardens on 

 the edge of the drains and canals are I dare say alive with the 

 song of various interesting warblers. The moral we learnt was, 

 not to go to Holland in autumn to see land-birds, unless indeed 

 you go to look for migrants on the sea- coast. I may say here 

 that we never saw a Stork ; doubtless they had already gone 

 south. 



Oct. 2nd. I tried to study Natural History in the Ryks 

 Museum. There was a curious old gilded chariot dating from 

 the middle of the 18th century, with painted panels, one of which 

 was instructive. It represented a fierce Hedgehog advancing 

 open-mouthed on a nest of bird's eggs (perhaps Blackbird's) 

 placed conveniently for him on the ground. I am afraid this was 

 no libel. On other panels were painted old-fashioned Pheasants 

 (the true P. colchicus), Shoveller ducks, &c. In pictures by Mel- 

 chior d'Hondecoeter (1G3G-U5) I noticed a Bittern, Shoveller, 

 Red-breasted Goose (Bernicla ruftcollis), Smew, &c. The two last- 

 named figure in the famous picture called " La plume flottante," 

 which includes also a crested Crane, perhaps the " Peacock" of 

 the guide-books. Another picture by the same artist, " Oiseaux 

 morts," represents a Partridge with the horseshoe irregular, and 



