c. and h. candler’s notes from the Netherlands. 
181 
coulcl be raised or depressed.* We understood from Hoetmer that 
there were this year thirty nests ; they were placed near together, 
and all comprised in a small area. Some of the nests contained 
eggs, generally three in number and always hard sat ; but in most 
cases the young were hatched. The birds in the same nest were 
of very unequal growth, proving that the eggs had been laid at 
intervals, the warmth of the nestling first hatched assisting in the 
incubation of the eggs subsequently laid. Parting the reeds with 
his oar the old marshman opened a view for us into a narrow lane 
of dark water, blocked by a large nest, the accumulation probably 
of some years ; upon the heap stood, erect, a bird at least three 
weeks old, beneath him squatted a downy nestling, and he in turn 
was covering an egg or newly hatched bird. In this case an 
interval of eighteen or twenty days must have elapsed between 
the laying of the first and last egg. 
Besides the Spoonbill, another interesting bird, the Purple 
Heron, still breeds upon Naarder Meer. The Dutch call this bird, 
which is fast becoming very rare in Holland, Roixle Reiger, the 
Red Heron. During the day we saw four or five of these fine 
birds upon the wing, and as it is sluggish and retiring in habit, at 
least in the daytime, there were perhaps many more in the 
neighbourhood. Wo searched long for a nest, but without success, 
though all the time a bird was flying round in evident anxiety, 
and near enough for us to make out, with glasses, every detail of 
its plumage ; the reed-bed, however, was so dense that we could 
* It is probably the same instinct of self-protection which prompts the 
Spoonbill to place its nest sometimes in a lofty tree, sometimes in a dense 
reed-bed; sites of a very different character, but perhaps equally secure and 
difficult of access. The same remark applies to the Common Heron and 
other allied species. At Erzeroum Messrs. Dickson and Ross found the 
Spoonbill nesting in the river, the nests made of reeds piled a few inches 
above the water. In India Mr. Hume describes the bird as nesting on 
Tamarind and Peepul trees. In Ceylon Colonel Leg ye found it breeding in 
trees (Yarrcll’s Hist, of Brit. Birds, 4th ed., vol. iv. pp. 237 — 243). 
Naumann says it rarely nests on the ground; he refers to the old colony 
in the trees of Sevenhuys, and he remarks that the Comorant and Spoonbill 
are often neighbours (‘ Naturgeschichte der Vogel Dcutschlands.’ Leipzig, 
1838. Vol. ix. p. 331). Graessner says, “the nest is generally found on 
trees, and only in quite treeless districts in the reeds of the swamp ” (‘ Die 
Vogel von Mittel — Europa uud ihre cier,’ p. 146. Dresden, 18SU — 1). 
