ARDEID.«. 



179 



THE NIGHT-HERON. 



Nycticorax GRiSEUS (Linnaeus). 



The first specimen of the Night-Heron recorded in England was 

 shot near London in May 1782; since which time many examples 

 have been obtained in the British Islands, and the species may be 

 considered as an almost annual visitor in spring and autumn. In the 

 south-western counties it would probably have bred, if unmolested, 

 for in 'The Zoologist' (p. 252S), the late Rev. C. J. Bulteel gave 

 details of his unrivalled success in destroying eight adult birds — four 

 males and four females — in Devonshire, between May 23rd and 

 June 22nd 1849. Both old and young have been taken along the 

 south coast as far west as Cornwall ; more than twenty in the 

 eastern counties, and a good many inland ; fewer from Yorkshire 

 northward ; while to the western side of the island its visits have 

 been infrequent. In Scotland, four occurrences in the south, one in 

 Aberdeenshire, several in Argyllshire, and one in the Outer Hebrides 



