I9TI. Moffat. — Ltaninous Ozvh. 129 



seems, therefore, safer for the present not to accept as 

 absolutely conclusive the statement that owls, even when 

 in poor condition, have been seen flying about with 

 phosphorescent breasts. 



A belief has long prevailed ascribing similar luminosity 

 to several of the herons and bitterns, which are supposed 

 to be assisted in their nocturnal fishing operations by a 

 phosphorescent light emitted from the " powder-down 

 patches " of the breast-feathers, a light that is thought to 

 serve, perhaps, the double purpose of attracting fish to the 

 vicinity and helping the watchful bird to see them. A 

 resume of the chief evidence on this subject is given by 

 Mr. Harting, in a very interesting chapter entitled " The 

 Fascination of Light," in his " Recreations of a Naturalist." 

 Mr. Harting there shows that at least one of the many 

 sportsmen who claim to have seen these luminous herons, 

 a Mr. W. J. Worrall, of Philadelphia, has given a detailed 

 description of how he once shot one, a specimen of the 

 Great Blue Heron {Ardea herodias) of the United States, 

 which had " three phosphorescent spots, one in front, and 

 one on each side of the hips between the hips and the 

 tail ; " and the description goes on to state that the 

 wounded bird as it expired lost its lustre gradually, the 

 light " disappearing entirely with death." The Great Blue 

 Heron, except in its larger size, so strikingly resembles our 

 own common species that it is scarcely conceivable that 

 thiis remarkable property should belong to one and not be 

 common to both. Naturalists, however, have not taken 

 the verdict as proven, even for the American bird. 



It will have been noticed that most of the testimony 

 furnished by Miss Dobbs and by Mr. Rennison relates to 

 observations in the late autumn and winter, and that this 

 was also the time of year when the phenomenon attracted 

 so much attention in Norfolk. In both cases, too, the 

 locality frequented was near to a river or stream, and misty 

 and moonless nights were considered by observers in both 

 districts the most favourable for the appearance of the 

 lights. The fact that Miss Dobbs generally sees two, and 

 has seen so many as four of the lights at once, is a difficulty 

 in the way of supposing so thinly distributed a bird as the 



