GREAT WHITE EGRET. 477 
ARDEA ALBA. 
GREAT WHITE EGRET. 
(PxuatE 38.) 
Ardea candida, Briss. Orn. vy. p. 428 (1760). 
Ardea alba, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 239 (1766) ; et auctorum plurimorum—Gmelin, 
Scopoli, Latham, (Bonaparte), (Salvadori), (Degland § Gerbe), (Dresser), &c. 
Ardea egrettoides, Gel. Reise Russi, ii. p. 193, pl. 25 (1774). 
Egretta melanorhyncha, Wagler, Isis, 1829, p. 659. 
Herodias candida (Briss.), Brehm, Vig. Deutschl. p. 584 (1831). 
Egretta alba (Linn.), Bonap. Comp. List B. Eur. & N. Amer. p. 47 (1838). 
Erodius victorie, Macgill. Man. Brit. B. ii. p. 131 (1842). 
Erodius albus (Linn.), Macgill. Man. Brit. B. ii. p. 134 (1842), 
Egretta nigrirostris (Gray), apud Macgill. Hist. Brit. B. iv. p. 460 (1852). 
As long ago as 1676 the occurrence of the Great White Egret in this 
country was known to Willughby and Ray, who were indebted for the 
information to their correspondent, Mr. Ralph Johnson, a Yorkshireman 
“of singular skill in zoology, especially the history of birds.” This species 
is only an accidental straggler to the British Islands; but about twenty 
instances of its occurrence have been recorded, principally in the eastern 
counties of England and Scotland. It is not known to have occurred in 
Ireland or Wales ; but has been met with on the west coast of England, in 
Cornwall, Devonshire, and Cumberland. The latest record is that of an 
example which was said to have been seen near Penzance on the 4th of 
February, 1866. Very little reliance can be placed upon the accuracy of 
the identification, and the date is strong evidence against it. There does 
not appear to be any reliable instance on record of the occurrence of this 
species in our islands during the last thirty or forty years. 
The Great White Egret is not known to breed regularly in any part of 
Europe except in South Russia and the valley of the Lower Danube. 
Homeyer found a single pair breeding with a colony of Common Herons 
in Silesia, and similar instances doubtless occasionally occur elsewhere. 
As an accidental straggler it has occurred in every country in Europe, 
most frequently, of course, in the south. It is not known to have occurred 
on Iceland or the Faroes ; but it occasionally visits the Azores. It is 
found in suitable localities throughout Africa, and is said to breed there ; 
but in South Africa it may have been confused with Ardea intermedia. 
Eastwards, it is a summer visitor to Asia Minor and Palestine, and breeds 
throughout Turkestan, South-west Siberia, as far north as lat. 47°, Persia, 
the valley of the Amoor, South-east Mongolia, and Japan. It is a resi- 
