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Spoonbills - these birds were visiting the RSPB reserve at Blacktoft Sands in Yorkshire
Below is an account by Philip Sclater and William Forbes on the nesting of the spoonbill in Holland . It first appeared in the October, 1877, edition of The Ibis journal.
THAT the Spoonbill breeds in Holland is a fact well known to every ornithologist, and most egg-collectors are aware that specimens of its eggs obtained in that country are to be purchased at a very cheap rate in the London egg-shops.
But we are not sure that an ornithologist, at least of this country, has actually visited the nesting-places of this bird, or, at any rate, has published any account of them.
In May 1867, as is recorded in Gould's Birds of Great Britain, Sclater paid a visit to a nesting-place of the Spoonbill at Nieuwerkerk, near Rotterdam, but, though he saw many Spoonbills, the nesting had not then begun.
The lake which he visited is said to have been drained since that time.
We hope therefore that it may interest readers of The Ibis to have an account of our recent experiences on this subject.
Being in Holland in the first week of May this year, Sclater made many inquiries as to where the Spoonbills could be seen performing the duties of reproduction, and finally ascertained from Hr. A. A. Van Bemmelen, Director of the Zoological Gardens at Rotterdam, that the most likely place to witness this interesting phenomenon was the Horster Meer, between Amsterdam and Utrecht.
At Amsterdam, it was ascertained that the first week in July would be a convenient period for the proposed excursion with this object, as about that time the birds would have commenced incubation.
On July 3, therefore, we found ourselves at the Amstel Hotel, at Amsterdam, and, upon visiting Mr. Hegt, the Assistant Director of the Zoological Society's Gardens there, found that he had kindly made every necessary arrangement for our proposed expedition next day.
No railway station being very convenient for the Horster Meer, he had ordered a carriage to take us from Amsterdam to the scene of action.
Next morning, we started about 8 o'clock, and had about three hours' drive, passing the villages of Abgouda and Vreeland before arriving at Overmeer an de Vecht, the little village in which Hr. van Dyk, the lessee of the Horster Meer, resided.
The Horster Meer consists of a large tract of water reed-beds and swamp, lying on the right bank of the Vecht, and immediately to the south of the Zuyder Zee.
It is between the railways going from Amsterdam to Utrecht on 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 birds' eggs which it produces.
The last-mentioned objects are collected from the nests twice a week during the months of May and June, and sold in Amsterdam 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 extensive piece of water, being closed in on all sides by enormous reed-beds, the homes of these and other aquatic birds.
Having landed at the end of a ditch which penetrated into one ofthese 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' breeding-place, we proceeded 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 reeds growing between then.
There was, however, a clear open space formed of broken-down reeds in which the birds were said to congregate.
The Spoonbill's nest, in the Horster Meer at least, is a mere flattened surface of broken reed, not elevated more than two or three inches above the general level of the swamp, and no other substance but reed appears to be used in its construction.
What the proper complement of eggs would be if the birds were left undisturbed we cannot say, for, as in the case of the Cormorants, the nests are robbed systematically twice a week until the period when it is known by experience that they cannot produce any more eggs.
Then at last the birds are allowed to sit undisturbed.
At the time of our visit, the season for collecting eggs was just past, but we helped ourselves to eight fresh eggs from different nests, laid since the last collection had been made.
During all the time that we were in the reed-beds, the Cormorants and Spoonbills were floating about over our heads, fully aware that there was an enemy in the camp.
We were told that there were several other nesting-places of the Spoonbill in different parts of the Horster Meer, containing altogether several thousand nests, so that we may hope that it will be some time before this fine bird becomes extinct in this locality.
The only other bird we found nesting in the Horster Meer was the Black Tern of which we captured two young chicks.
After refreshing ourselves at the hostelry of Overmeer, we returned to Amsterdam in the evening by a different route, highly satisfied with our day with the Spoonbills.
We cannot conclude this short account of a most delightful day without thanking Mr. Hegt most heartily for his kind arrangements for our trip without which we should probably have encountered considerable difficulty in reaching our destination.
It is to be feared that in England we could hardly promise to show our friends an equally interesting sight in such close proximity to our metropolis !
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