238 Letters, Announcements, S^c. 



Agra, February 22, 1869. 



Sir,— In 'The Ibis' for 1868 (page 325) Mr. Tristram has 

 some remarks on the difference observable in the breeding-habits 

 of certain Ardeida in Algeria and Palestine, and, on Dr. Jerdon's 

 authority, in India. Now the fact is that in India several 

 species of Herons and Bitterns, notably Ardea purpurea, breed 

 by preference in large clumps of bullrushes and reeds. On 

 August 16, 1867, when Mr. Brooks and I were out in the 

 Etawah district, near the Lohya bridge of the Ganges Canal, we 

 came across a large heronry of the species just named. In the 

 midst of a XdiVge jheel or swamp, in many places grown up with 

 rushes and wild rice, in others with deep and comparatively 

 clear water thickly paved with leaves of the lotus and water-lily, 

 stood two large dense clumps of bullrushes. As we passed within 

 about a hundred yards of these, firing once or twice at Ducks, 

 we saw some thirty or forty long necks make their appearance 

 among the waving tops of the bullrushes. It was quite clear that 

 the owners of the necks must be standing on something well 

 above the level of the water; and so we at once sent men to search 

 the clumps — no easy matter, as it proved. It turned out that 

 these Herons had, by bending down thirty or forty of the rushes, 

 made small platforms from 18 inches to 2 feet above the water, 

 and on them built nests of loose sticks. In two nests we found 

 five eggs, in one four, in all the rest three, two, or one. We 

 took forty-six eggs, all fresh, from these clumps ; and later Mr. 

 Brooks took, I believe, a second supply. It was clear that the 

 birds built among the rushes from choice, since the jheel was 

 surrounded on two sides, at a distance of not more than a hun- 

 dred yards, by a belt of large trees. 



Since then I have obtained other eggs of the Purple Heron 

 and those of Butorides javanicus (a single nest) from a similar 

 situation, as well as three nests of Nycticorax griseus from a 

 reed-bed ; so I think we may fairly conclude that in India, as 

 elsewhere, many of the Ardeidce breed in fens and marshes by 

 preference. 



It may not be generally known that small birds up to the size 

 of a Lark may be perfectly preserved, with very little trouble, by 

 using carbolic acid. Open the abdomen, and with a forceps 



