196 ARDEID.E. 



According to Latham (Synopsis, iii. p. 53), the first speci- 

 men of the Night-Heron recorded in England, was shot near 

 London in May, 178'2, since which more than sixty examples 

 have been obtained in the British Islands. The species 

 may, in fact, be considered as an almost annual visitor to 

 our shores in spring and autumn, and in the south-western 

 counties it has sometimes occurred under circumstances which 

 invite the belief that, if unmolested, the birds Avould have bred 

 with us. Thus Mr. C. J. Bulteel records in ' The Zoologist ' 

 (p. 2528), the discovery of four Night-Herons near Erme- 

 bridge, in Devonshire, on the 23rd May, 1849, all of which 

 he succeeded in bagging ; about a week later, from infor- 

 mation he received, he renewed his search, and killed two 

 more ; and on the 22nd June two more were secured, making 

 a complement of eight adult birds, four males and four 

 females. Mr. Rodd mentions that in the second week of 

 May, 1869, a pair of Night- Herons in adult plumage was 

 secured near Hayle, in Cornwall, the ovary of the female 

 containing eggs the size of a small beau ; and from infor- 

 mation supplied to the Editor by the Rev. M. A. Mathew, 

 it seems probable that a brood was actually hatched out that 

 year near New Bridge on the Taw, in North Devon. Several 

 other examples have been obtained in Cornwall and Devon ; 

 also in Dorsetshire, Hampshire, Sussex, and the southern 

 counties generally. In the eastern counties about a score of 

 examples have been recorded : the last at Ranworth, Norfolk, 

 in July 1880 ; in Yorkshire only four or five ; in Durham 

 and Northumberland still fewer ; and to the western side of 

 the island its visits have been few and far between. It has 

 also been obtained from time to time in many of our inland 

 counties, such as Oxfordshire, Berks, Bucks, Northampton- 

 shire, Nottinghamshire, &c. In Scotland three captures are 

 recorded by Jardine, to which have since been added three 

 more — all in the south ; and one, in immature plumage, 

 shot near Aberdeen on the 9th January, 1866. In Ireland 

 examples have been obtained in Donegal, Armagh, Louth, 

 Kilkenny, Queen's County, and Cork. 



The Night-Heron has been known to visit the Fneroes, 



