170 ARDEID.E. 



shot in the province of Oran, Algeria, in 1858, bearing 

 the label of the same Club for 1850. These facts are 

 interesting, as proving that the migrations of the Herons 

 are more extensive on the Continent, where the severity 

 of winter is greater than in this country. Here they appear 

 to be of a partial character, and, so far as can yet be judged 

 from the Migration Reports, they have mostly been observed 

 in autumn, and in the northern portions of our islands. 



In the British Islands the Heron is generally distributed ; 

 but although found in the Outer Hebrides during the greater 

 part of the year, it does not appear to breed there. It 

 sometimes visits the Faeroes ; very rarely straggles to Ice- 

 land ; and a young bird was found dead in South Greenland 

 in 1856. On the coast of Norway its range extends to 

 lat. 68° N. ; but in Sweden and Russia its breeding limits 

 do not go bej^ond 57°. South of this it is found in suitable 

 localities over the greater part of Europe ; but in France 

 there is only one recognized heronry — a very large one — at 

 Ecury-le-grand, Champigneul, Marne. To the Iberian Penin- 

 sula the species is a winter visitor ; and the same may be 

 said of most of Southern Europe, with the exception of the 

 northern and central districts of Italy, the valley of the 

 Lower Danube — where Messrs. Seebohm and Young found 

 it breeding in June, — and Southern Russia. Passing east- 

 ward, it nests throughout the temperate portions of Asia as 

 far as China and Japan, and southwards to Ceylon ; and it 

 has occurred in Java and in Australia. It visits the Canaries, 

 Madeira, and the Azores ; and its range can be traced over 

 the greater part of Africa, down to the Cape and Natal, but 

 it seems probable that statements as to its nesting in the 

 south relate to a very closely allied species, A. melanoccphala. 

 It has also been obtained in Madagascar and Mauritius. 



In the adult male the beak is yellow ; the lore yellowish- 

 green ; irides yellow ; forehead and cheeks white ; the long 

 occipital feathers forming the plume bluish-black ; upper 

 surface of the body and wings french-grey ; wing-primaries 

 black ; tail-feathers slate-grey ; neck white, varied in front 

 throughout its length with dark bluish-grey, forming elon- 



