ORNITHOLOGICAL NOTES FROM DENMARK. 85 



up among it into little islets of turf, I met with a few Kentish 

 Plover, evidently breeding close at hand, but whether they had 

 not yet laid, or whether from inexperience I failed in knowledge 

 of the exact situation they preferred,* I was not able to locate a 

 nest with eggs. I found many hollows apparently prepared, and 

 the nests of Einged Plovers and Oystercatchers on the neigh- 

 bouring turf and gravel were easily found. A few Whimbrel 

 were also seen on the west coast. Off Gronningen a few medium- 

 sized Terns were evidently preparing to nest. (Hr. Klinge tells 

 me that Little Terns, which I do not remember seeing here, also 

 nest, and that the nests of the Kentish Plover, which are abun- 

 dant, and at the time I was there should have contained strongly 

 incubated eggs, are extremely difficult to find amid the small 

 shells which surround them.) 



There is a famous decoy on Fano, on the eastern shore some- 

 what to the south, and a breeding colony of Black-headed Gulls, 

 neither of which I have seen. 



On the great bird colonies of the Eingkjobing Fjord volumes 

 might be written. Picturesque descriptions of the locality are 

 to be found in Seebohm's ' British Birds ' under " Avocet " and 

 "Black-tailed Godwit," and in the appendix on Denmark to 

 Abel Chapman's 'Wild Norway,'! and the never-to-be-forgotten 

 scenes of its bird-life, bewildering to eye and ear in their variety 

 and profusion, are well depicted by these authors. My visits 

 have been too hurried to permit of any but the most superficial 

 observation. The lands on which the principal breeding-places 

 are situated are State property, and strictly preserved by the 

 Danish Ministry of Agriculture, a step rendered necessary, it is 

 said, mainly by the depredations of English collectors and 

 dealers in former years. Every lover of birds will rejoice at the 

 protection now afforded, apparently with the best results, to so 

 wonderful a preserve. 



The Fjord and its surroundings have changed often and 

 much, even within the period for which historical record is 

 available. I From an arm of the sea it has become a fresh- 



* I was directed to the bird colonies on Fano by Hr. M. Klinge, of 

 Randers (formerly of Esbjerg). 



f See also A. C. Chapman in ' Ibis,' 1894. 



| For many topographical details about the Fjord I have consulted the 



