THE NIGHT HERON 161 



is to be met with, where it estabhshes a colony, in 

 quite large numbers, and, in the report I have 

 frequently referred to on wild birds that visit 

 the Giza Zoological Gardens, it is stated that 

 "Night Herons begin to arrive during August, 

 winter here, and leave during the spring months. 

 A few individuals, however, are seen throughout 

 the summer. The number of these birds, which 

 spend the daytime in the gardens, has greatly 

 increased during the last ten years. 108 were 

 counted on January 15, 1900 ; 360 on December 

 11, 1902. At present it is impossible to count 

 them." 



All day long it sits moped up, out of the direct 

 rays of the sun, in the centre of a mass of over- 

 hanging foliage, and only wakes up when most 

 other birds are just falling to sleep. It feeds on 

 fish, frogs, and even water-beetles and insects. 



21 



