174 ARDEID^. 



prior to 1841 ; and Macgillivray has cited another obtained 

 in March 1847, in Aberdeenshire. A few more examples 

 have, doubtless, occurred in the British Islands, but enough 

 have been mentioned to indicate that this species is an irre- 

 gular visitant to our eastern and southern shores, becoming 

 extremely rare in the western districts. Considering its com- 

 parative abundance on the neighbouring shores of Europe, 

 it is perhaps somewhat remarkable that its visits should be 

 so few and far between. 



The Purple Heron is a mere straggler to the south of 

 Sweden, and it is of rare or very local occurrence in Northern 

 Germany, Its nearest breeding-places are in Holland, where 

 it is still by no means uncommon, although some of its haunts 

 have been interfered with by drainage. To Belgium, and to 

 the northern districts of France, it is principally a visitor on 

 passage, but it breeds in considerable numbers in the marshes 

 of the Loire, and in some parts of the south and east. In 

 the Siaanish Peninsula it nests in suitable localities, as it 

 does over the rest of Europe, from Central Germany south- 

 wards ; but it aj)pears that the majority migrate from the 

 countries on the northern side of the Mediterranean in 

 winter. In Poland, according to Dr. Taczauowski, it is on 

 the whole rare ; nor is it common in Austria or Hungary, 

 although it becomes abundant in the valley of the Lower 

 Danube and in the marshy districts of Southern Russia. 

 In Asia it is generally distributed in w'ell-watered localities, 

 from the Mediterranean and the Caspian to the Philippines 

 and the Indian Archipelago, and it is resident in the warmer 

 portions ; but it is rare in North China, and its recorded 

 occurrence in Japan is open to doubt. Even from the greater 

 part of Northern Africa — with the exception of Egypt, where it 

 is resident — it appears to be partially migratory in winter, at 

 which season this species is exceedingly abundant throughout 

 the rest of the continent ; and, in addition to these migrants, 

 large numbers permanently inhabit the marshy districts down 

 to Cape Colony. It has even been found uj) to an elevation 

 of 9,000 feet in Abyssinia ; and it has been met with in 

 Madagascar. 



