490 BRITISH BIRDS. 
our heads, but we had no difficulty in shooting a Squacco Heron and a 
Pigmy Cormorant, and might have obtained any number had we required 
them. Although it was the 12th of June, all the eggs of the Common 
Heron, nearly all those of the Squacco Heron, and many of those of the 
Pigmy Cormorant were quite fresh. The Night-Heron was the closest 
sitter (but the reason may have been that its eggs were the most incu- 
bated), and of the five species this was the only one which had any young. 
The nests of the Squacco Heron were built on the same model as those of 
the Little Egret and Night-Heron, the twigs of which they were composed 
being arranged from the centre, thus forming radi, whilst those of the 
Common Heron and the Pigmy Cormorant were arranged, as usual, round 
the centre, forming arcs. The Squacco Heron builds a very slight nest, 
somewhat deep, though the sides permit the eggs to be seen through the 
sticks, the more solid part of the nest not exceeding six inches across. It 
is impossible to describe the interest of such a scene. In these flooded 
forests there is scarcely any current, and the water was quite warm and 
discoloured by the droppings of the birds, whilst the smell was similar to 
that of a guano warehouse. The sun was burning hot, and not a breath 
of air penetrated the thicket. By the time we had explored the colony 
many thousand birds must have been upon the wing, flyimg wildly round 
and round and backwards and forwards, in the greatest excitement, every 
now and then perching on the willow trees, and incessantly uttering their 
loud discordant cries. We had some little difficulty in identifying the 
eggs of the Night-Heron and the Little Egret. Concerning those of the 
Common Heron, the Squacco Heron, and the Pigmy Cormorant, there 
can be no manner of doubt; but after watching a Night-Heron rise from 
its nest we often found on reaching the spot that two or three other nests 
were so close to it that it was impossible to say which was the one that, 
belonged to the bird we had watched. The excitement of the birds lasted 
long after we had left their colony, and had not subsided when we lost 
sight of it. 
In North Africa the Squacco Heron is said always to nest on the ground 
amongst the sedges, probably in consequence of the absence of trees ; but 
in the valley of the Danube it is not known to breed anywhere except in 
trees. The eggs of the Squacco Heron are from four to six in number, 
and are greenish blue in colour; they vary in length from 1°6 to 1°5 inch, 
and in breadth from 1:2 to 1:06 inch. They cannot be confused with 
the eggs of any of the other European Herons. Only one brood is reared 
in the year. . 
The Squacco Heron is, if possible, even a more beautiful bird than the 
Little Egret. It is pure white, with the exception of the feathers of the 
back, neck, and upper breast, which are buff, suffused with pale russet- 
brown on the back, each feather of the forehead, crown, and nape margined 
