. Pictures of bird life : on woodland meadow, mountain and marsh . ance the bird was starkstaring mad. Birds of all sorts are always to be found in numbersround these old cork-trees. One group of magnificent trees,under whose welcome sliade we had stopped to lunch, was,I remember, fairly alive with birds. ]Many I^ittle OwlsHew from the numerous holes and cavities; AVoodpeckerswere to be seen, as we rode up, climbing nimbly all overthe great gnarled and twisted branches ; and a large colonyof Jackdaws were busy nesting. AVe found many nests fullof eggs ; one of them l^eing among the roots under
. Pictures of bird life : on woodland meadow, mountain and marsh . ance the bird was starkstaring mad. Birds of all sorts are always to be found in numbersround these old cork-trees. One group of magnificent trees,under whose welcome sliade we had stopped to lunch, was,I remember, fairly alive with birds. ]Many I^ittle OwlsHew from the numerous holes and cavities; AVoodpeckerswere to be seen, as we rode up, climbing nimbly all overthe great gnarled and twisted branches ; and a large colonyof Jackdaws were busy nesting. AVe found many nests fullof eggs ; one of them l^eing among the roots these trees the only Hoopoe and the only GreatSpotted Cuckoo seen during my visit were observed. Theformer appeared to hiive left a small round hole aljout 304 Pictures of Bird Life tliiity feet up one of the smaller trees, but on climbingto it tliere was no appearance of any nest. Soon after starting on our first day, a colony of Spoon-bills were seen nesting among the reeds about fifty yardsfrom tlie sliore in a lagoon. The wliite plimiage of tlie. Nest of Raven {Curviis corax). birds could be seen througli tlie thick growth, as we rodealono- the ed-e of the water. One of the men was :,entround for a punt not far away, while we dismounted andhobbled the horses. By the time tlie camera had been gotready and wading-trousers got into, ^lamiele had arrivedwith a rickety. Hat-bottomed affair, called a lanclia. in whicli Bird Life in the Spanish Marismas ;j().5 I was paddled oxvv to tlienests witli some were about a dozen, ofexactly similar a])pearance andconstruction to those I hadseen in Holland, Hat, roughplatforms of dry yellow reedsand sticks, just raised abovethe surface of the water, whichwas rather deep—quite foin-feet. Each nest containedeggs, two, three, or four innumber, which varied con-siderably in shape, some beingvery rounded, and others,again, remarkably elongated. I was soon overboard, andastonished ^Nlanuele consider-ably by telling
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectbirdspi, bookyear1903
