182 C. AND H. CANDLElt’s NOTES FROM THE NETHERLANDS. 
see only a few feet into it, while to force the boat into its recesses 
would have been almost impossible.* 
In another part of the Meer we saw a number of Black-headed 
Gulls, which presumably were breeding; and upon a soft and 
quaking island of mud, where vegetation was sparse, a colony of 
Common Terns was established, and we found several nests with 
eggs.d The Marsh Ragwort (Senecio palustris), now so rare in the 
Broad district, was growing plentifully here (and elsewhere on the 
Meer), imparting quite a glow of colour to the spot. 
What may be the fortunes of the Spoonbills of Naarder Meer in 
the next few years it would be unsafe to predict ; but the steady 
decrease in their numbers in the past, in spite of careful protection, 
does not promise well for the long continuance of the colony. 
Moreover a project was formed some years ago for the drainage of 
the lake and a pumping-station was actually erected. At present 
the work is at a standstill ; but if at any time the engineering or 
financial difficulties, which stand in the way of its completion, 
should be surmounted, the Meer will become firm pasture ground, 
and the Spoonbills will be banished from their last breeding-place 
in the north of Europe. 
* Mr. Seebolim does not appear to have found the Purple Heron breeding 
at Horster Meer in 1880, as he says in his ‘History of British Birds:’ “The 
valley of the Danube is the most northern locality where the Purple Heron 
breeds regularly” (vol. ii. p. 517). 
f Lubbock mentions having found the nests of the Lesser and Common 
Terns in a similar locality, viz., “upon an island in Hickling Broad” 
(‘Fauna of Norfolk’ [Mr. Southwell’s Ed.] p. 169). 
