VIII 



THE SEARCH AFTER THE GREAT WHITE HERON 



The quest of the Pelican having been brought at 

 last to a successful end, I set to work packing up 

 and making preparations to start for the Dobrudscha 

 to look for the other European Pelican, Pelecanus 

 onocrotalus. But before the steamer arrived by 

 which I expected to travel to Trieste, in order to 

 take the train to Roumania, I received telegraphic 

 instructions to proceed to Scutari in Albania to 

 search for the Great White Heron (Ardea alba). 



This is one of the least known among European 

 birds by English naturalists, not so much on account 

 of its rarity in point of numbers, for in places it 

 still exists in more or less abundance ; but these 

 places are invariably very remote and inaccessible. 

 It is also extremely shy, and with good reason. It 

 has suffered persecution all over the world on 

 account of the beautiful plumes which it assumes in 

 the breeding season. These plumes and those of 

 the Little Egret are known to the millinery trade 



i37 



