2o5 THE NESTS AND EGGS OF 



Family ARDEID/E. Genus Ardea. 



SQUACCO HERON. 



Ardea comata, Pallas. 



(British : Rare abnormal spring and summer migrant.) 



Single Brooded. Laying season, latter half of May, and in 



June. 



Breeding area : South-western Palaearctic region, 

 and Ethiopian region. The Squacco Heron breeds in 

 the Spanish peninsula, throughout the valley of the 

 Danube in suitable locaHties, Southern Russia, the basin 

 of the Caspian, and Syria. South of the Mediterranean 

 it breeds throughout Africa, from Morocco to Egypt in 

 the north, down to Namaqua Land, Natal, and probably 

 Madagascar. 



Breeding habits : The Squacco Heron is only a 

 summer visitor to Europe, reaching its breeding grounds 

 during April or early in May. Like its congeners it is 

 gregarious and social, breeding in colonies composed of 

 various species. Of its pairing habits nothing appears 

 to be known. Its breeding haunts are the same as those 

 of the Night Heron and the Little Egret, flooded 

 willow and alder forests, and in treeless districts amongst 

 the reeds in swamps and marshes. Mr. Seebohm gives 

 a very graphic account of his visit to the vast colony of 

 Herons in the valley of the Danube near Hirsova. This 

 colony is situated in a flooded forest of pollard willows, 

 and was estimated to contain some five thousand nests 

 of various species, chiefly Herons. The nest of the 

 Squacco Heron he found made on precisely the same 

 model as that of the Night Heron — twigs arranged from 

 a centre like radii. They were slight, but rather deep, 

 and the eggs could be seen through them from below. 



