The Eider Duck and the Spoonbill in the Netherlands

Extract

The first record of the eider breeding in the Netherlands was a report in 1906 by the German ornithologist, O. Leege. He gave the site as the island of Vlieland, north-east of Texel. Few further such observations were made until 1925 when I myself estimated the total number of breeding females on Viieland as ten, chiefly in the western part. Since then protective measures have been taken. A keeper has regularly visited the reserved area, eggs have been protected from herring gulls as far as possible, and when a breeding bird has accidentally been flushed, her eggs have been covered up with down.