182 



HERODIONES 



ARDEID^. 



ARDEID^E. 



Ardea garzetta, LiniiiBus.* 

 THE LITTLE EGRET. 



Ardea garzetta. 



The Little Egret is one of the rarest stragglers to the 

 British Islands, and some of the records of its reported occur- 

 rence are far from being satisfactory, f Templeton, in his 

 ' Catalogue of the Vertebrate Animals of Ireland,' says of 



* Ardea Garzetta, Linnaeus, Sjst. Nat. Ed. 12, i. p. 237 (1766). 



t The often quoted passage from Pennant, identifying with this species the 

 thousand ' Egrittes ' served at Archbishop Nevill's enthronization- feast, in the 

 time of Edward IV., is probably founded on an error. As suggested by 

 Fleming, and accepted by Selby, the birds were, no doubt, Lapwings. The word 

 aigrette (whence Egret) is probably derived from the Italian aghh'one, a heron : 

 Proven9al algro : and has acquired the meaning of a tuft of feathers. 



