132 
NATURE NOTES 
success, sometimes to find the gut would not stand the strain. 
We took home six fish, weighing 5 lbs. in all, putting back the 
smaller ones to grow and fight another day. 
Next day being very hot we applied ourselves under the 
shade of the trees to quite a different task. Among other 
treasures S. had been given a quantity of British birds’ eggs 
collected by an uncle and great-uncle of his wife. They were 
packed in all sorts of boxes, and these he had kept untouched to 
show me, just as they had come to him. This collection was by 
anticipation a good one from the known repute of the sportsmen 
who had made it, each of whom had been an M.F.H. But I 
was not prepared for what I saw. About one in five was named 
with the time and place of capture ; and, though we had See- 
bohm’s grand work to guide us, we named none, for we thought 
that the unnamed majority were well worth}' of being submitted 
to experts who had handled more eggs than we. At a rough 
guess there must have been at least a thousand, which we put in 
a cabinet. In the top drawer were fifty-four eggs, amongst which 
I found the following named and the rest unnamed : — great 
bustard, wild goose, osprey, crested grebe, kite, moor buzzard, 
horned owl, barn owl, avocet, cormorant, little bittern, golden 
plover, curlew (never laid), stork, shoveller, long-eared owl. 
Strange to say, these eggs of the great bustard were taken 
years ago in the very village of which S. is now incumbent. 
From the rest of the collection 1 will mention a few more 
named sorts, taking them at random: — fieldfare, redwing, siskin, 
golden eagle, white-tailed eagle, golden oriole, stormy petrel, 
Baillon’s crake, Richard's pipit, shore lark. 
One would think the whole of the British Isles must have 
been laid under contribution years ago to produce the eggs of 
birds like these. 
By way of varying our sport we obtained permission to fish 
in a lake three miles off which is well stocked with trout, some 
of great size. Close to this lake is the most stately mansion I 
have ever entered, which contains one of the finest private 
collections of pictures in England. These our hostess kindly 
showed us when lunch was done. The sight was almost bewil- 
dering in the short time at our disposal. Treasures of art met 
us at every turn, gorgeous i 6 th century Venetian chairs from 
the Doges’ palace among the rest. But this is not the place to 
enter into a description of such things, and, indeed, I must own to 
being unequal to the task. On going to the lake we saw a black 
swan which had been raised in an incubator, and followed its 
mistress like a dog, and, beyond a hiss, objected little to our 
presence. The lake is about ninety acres in extent ; but though 
we saw some large fish, not one could we take, try how we 
would. Indeed, not a rise was to be seen that afternoon. 
Several gadwall were flying about, apparently the commonest 
duck in these parts. They must be very local, for I have not 
heard of their occurrence at my own home thirty miles off, where 
