C. AND H. CAN DLEIi’s NOTES FKOM THE NETIIEKLAXDS. 179 
example, that twenty-five years ago Spoonbills bred in great 
numbers in the marshes near Den Hoorn, in the soutli of Texel. 
The cutting of a drain has since laid dry this area ; but it is 
interesting to hear that a well-known Texel sportsman has recently 
seen a pair of Spoonbills frequenting the spot regularly throughout 
the summer. -Judging from the nature of the ground, however, it 
is very improbable that these birds bred in the locality. 
At X icuwerkcrk they bred for several years longer, and in 
18G7 Mr. P. L. Sclater visited the locality and saw perhaps the 
descendants of the very birds which, a few miles distant, had 
delighted the eyes of Willugliby two centuries before. Soon 
afterwards the Spoonbills wero driven from this old stronghold, 
and they are next met with upon llorster Meer, a locality mentioned 
by neither Nozeman or Schlegel, about fifteen miles south-east of 
Amsterdam, on the southern verge of the low-lying district border- 
ing the Zuyder Zee, and known as “the Gooi." In July, 1877, 
Messrs. P. L. Sclater and W. A. Forbes visited Horster Meer : 
they wero informed that sererai thousand pairs were then nesting 
there ; a great number of Cormorants were breeding in the same 
locality.* 
In May, 1880, Mr. Ilenry Scebohm and Captain Elwes were at 
Horster Meer, and estimated the number of nests at fifty ; they 
saw, howover, a flock of two or three hundred birds. t Soon 
afterwards the Meer was drained, and the Spoonbills betook 
themselves to Xaarder (or Naarden) Meer, three or four miles to 
the north-east, a tract of swamp and reed-beds well calculated to 
secure them food and shelter. This new breeding-place was 
visited by Mr. Philip Crowley in May, 1884, when he noted 
about two hundred Spoonbills, and also some fifty or sixty Purple 
Herons. + From that date until the present year we have no data 
as to the colony. 
We had, previously to our own visit, some doubt as to how and 
where wo should find the Spoonbills, and we are indebted, in 
the first place, to Mr. W. M. Crowfoot for putting us upon the 
* ‘ On the Nesting of the Spoonbill in Holland.’ By P. L. Sclater and 
V. A. Forbes. ‘ Ibis,’ vol. i. 1877 (4tli series) p. 412. 
t* History of British Birds.’ By Henry Scebohm. Vol. ii. p. 51G. 
X * Yarrell’s History of British Birds.’ 4tli ed., vol. iv. pp. 237 — 243. 
