A NATURALIST S JOURNAL IN HOLLAND AND BELGIUM. 827 



much white round it. In a picture by Frans Snijders (1579-1 G57) 

 there is a Partridge with some white on the edge of the horse- 

 shoe. 



Oct. 3rd. A journey by steamer in very bad weather up the 

 North Holland Canal to Alkmaar showed us no birds, and there 

 was clearly nothing to be done in this way, so we determined to 

 leave for East Holland and Belgium the next day, after seeing 

 the Zoological Gardens. 



Oct. 4th. In the Diergaarde we found a nice bird-house, and 

 noticed a specimen of that lovely little bird, Poephila mirabilis> 

 Gould, which displays blue, crimson, green, yellow, amethyst and 

 claret-colour in its plumage. Some local Jays had the crown of 

 the head unusually white. I was much interested in listening to 

 the bright little trill, " chit-teree-ee," of some Crested Tits. 

 There were also some Bearded Tits (the Baardmees of the 

 Dutch). We saw three Bisons {Bison americanus) and two 

 examples of the Aurochs (B. bonasus). The Aurochs bought 

 by the Zoological Society of London in 1808 was bred here 

 in 1865. We went through the birds in the Museum in the 

 grounds. The most noticeable things were Locustella luscini- 

 oides, from Kralingen ; a series of twelve Anthus rupestris, 

 one or two of which approached A. spipoletta, but most of them 

 were not to be distinguished from A.obscurus ; local Hawfinches, 

 rather brighter than our resident birds ; many Sand Grouse (of 

 the 1888-0 invasion), and two downy young born in the Diergaarde 

 on the 15th and 16th July, 1890. There was, as might be expected, 

 a very fine series of Ruffs, and three examples of the Red-breasted 

 Goose (Bernicli rujicollis), one from Rotterdam and another from 

 North Holland. As mentioned above, the bird was known to the 

 old Dutch painters. Some very beautifully executed life cases of 

 birds (like those in the British Museum), with space not spared, 

 have been fitted up. They include Purple Herons and nest 

 (Naardermeer) ; Spoonbills (two nests), and Great Reed Warbler 

 and nest — a very pretty case ; Ruff and Reeve ; Herons and 

 Cormorants; Sheldrakes; and Sund Martins, with one burrow 

 opened. We went, via Utrecht and Arnhem, to Nymegen. 



Oct. 5th. Nymegen. Walked to Berg en Dal, at some little 

 elevation, whence you get a very fine view over the flat rich 

 country of the Lower Rhine, with its villages, farms, and trees, 

 the winding river and undulating wooded country. I noticed 



