LITTLE EGRET. 185 



north of the Mediterranean. Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun., states 

 that there is an example in winter dress in the Museum at 

 Wisbeach, labelled ' South Lincolnshire, December 1851 ' ; 

 but so far as he and Mr. Cordeaux can make out, it was 

 given as a skin by the Eev. F. Latham, of Helpringham, 

 who thinks that he got it in Hampshire (' Rambles of a 

 Naturalist,' p. 284). Mr. A. E. Knox was informed that a 

 specimen in the collection of Sir Percy Shelley was shot a 

 few years prior to 1855 at Warnham Mill-pond, in Sussex. 



Last, and most satisfactory of all, is the record by Mr. 

 J. Gatcombe (Zool. s.s. p. 2308) of an adult which he 

 examined, recently killed at Countess Weir, on the river 

 Exe, on the 3rd June, 1870, and then belonging to Mr. 

 E. H. Harbottle, of Topsham, near Exeter. 



The Little Egret has not been known to occur beyond the 

 Baltic, and it is a rare visitor to Germany, Holland, and the 

 north of France. In the southern and eastern portions of 

 the latter country, it is not uncommon ; and it is tolerably 

 abundant, in suitable localities, in the Spanish Peninsula, 

 Italy, Sicily, Sardinia, and the countries bordered by the 

 Mediterranean. The northern limit of its breeding-range 

 appears to be in the wooded swamps of Slavonia, where Mr. 

 W. E. Clarke found it nesting towards the end of May, 

 1883, on the Obedska ' bara,' a horseshoe-shaped marsh, on 

 the river Save, not far from Semlin. In the same year 

 Messrs. Seebohm and Young found this species breeding 

 in colonies on the Lower Danube. It is common during 

 the breeding-season in Turkey and in Southern Russia ; and 

 it has been observed in Asia Minor, Palestine, and Persia. 

 In many parts of India, and in Ceylon, it is resident ; the 

 nesting-time in the north being from July to August, and 

 in the south from December to January. Its range extends 

 from the Caspian to Japan and China ; it has been obtained 

 in the Philippines and the islands of the Eastern Archi- 

 pelago ; and it visits the northern portions of Australia. In 

 the west it is known to visit the Azores, the Canaries, and 

 the Cape de Verde Islands ; it frequents the marshes of 

 Northern Africa, and appears to be found over the rest of 



VOL. IV. B B 



