446 HANDBOOK OF BRITISH BIRDS 



One, South Devon, April 1851 : Cleveland, of Tapley Park, 

 Bideford, Z(joI, 1851, p. 3116. Admitted by D'Urbau 

 and Mathew, "Birds of Devon," p. 18G. 



Ohs. From Alexandria far into Egypt, the BufF- 

 backed Heron is one of the commonest birds in 

 fields and gardens, even on the outskirts of Cairo, by 

 the banks of the Nile and along the canals. Flocks 

 of them follow the ploughs, and keep within a few 

 paces of them, while most grazing herds are sur- 

 rounded by these birds, which have become almost 

 domesticated. This is also the case in the south of 

 Spain, where numbers may be seen amongst the 

 cattle in the marshes of Andalusia. 



LITTLE GREEN HERON. Bidorides virescens (Lin- 

 naeus). Length, 17 in.; bill, 2"5 in.; wing, 7*25 in.; 

 tarsus, 1*9 in. 



Hah. Tropical and Temperate America. Breeds as far 

 north as Manitoba, Ontario, and the Bay of Fundy ; winter- 

 ing from Florida southward. 



One, Penrice, St. Austell, Cornwall, Oct. 27, 1889 : Murray 

 Mathew, ZooL, 1890, p. 105. In the possession of Sir 

 Charles Sawle, Bart., by whose gamekeeper it was shot. 

 Exhibited by me at a meeting of the Linnean Society, 

 April 17, 1890, and full details given, Zool, 1890, 

 p. 181. 



Obs. In the opinion of JNlessrs. Sclater and Sharpe 

 this bird should be referred to the genus Butorides, 

 the species of which possess characters that natur- 

 ally place them between the true Herons and the 

 Bitterns. As to the vt^ay in which a bird of the 

 American species [virescens or lentigmosus) has con- 



