414 Messrs. P. L. Sclater and W. A. Forbes on the 
one side, and from Amsterdam to Amersfoort on the other. 
It belongs to a rich proprietor in Amsterdam, but is farmed 
out at a considerable rent for the sake of the fish, reeds, and 
bird's eggs which it produces. The last-mentioned objects 
are collected from the nests in which they are laid, twice a 
week during the months of May and June, and sold in Am¬ 
sterdam to such persons as require a large supply of fresh 
eggs without being particular as to the source from which 
they are derived. 
On arriving at Overmeer we were received by Hr. van 
Dyk and escorted to a boat, which conveyed us along a short 
canal into the Horster Meer. No sooner had we arrived on 
the lake than the air above us was filled with an enormous flight 
of Cormorants, who well knew what a visit to their domain 
portended. A few minutes afterwards about 500 Spoonbills 
were circling in the air over our heads, their long legs 
stretched behind them, and their white bodies glistening in 
the sun. The Meer, so far as visible, was not a very ex¬ 
tensive piece of water, being closed in on all sides by enor¬ 
mous reed-beds, the homes of these and other aquatic birds. 
Having landed at the end of a ditch which penetrated into 
one of these beds of reeds, we pursued a track which led us 
first to a breeding-place of the Cormorants. Here was a 
circular space, perhaps fifty yards in diameter, cleared of 
reeds, in which the Cormorants' nests stood thick together 
on the swampy soil. They were formed of rather large sticks, 
piled somewhat loosely together to a height of about 18 inches 
above the surface. The top of the nest was only slightly 
hollowed out, and lined with a few broken reeds. The eggs 
were in no case more than two in number, the poor birds 
having been robbed continuously up to that time, and only 
within the last few days allowed to commence incubation. 
Having inspected the Cormorants 5 breeding-place, we pro¬ 
ceeded about fifty yards further through the reed-beds, over 
a still more treacherous swamp, to the breeding-place of the 
Spoonbills. The nests of these birds were not situated so 
near together as those of the Cormorants, but scattered about 
two or three yards from each other, with thin patches of 
