192 ardeidj:. 



and summer. It has been taken twice in Hampshire, and 

 once in the Isle of Wight (May) ; three times in Dorset 

 (May and July) ; once near Bridgewater, in Somersetshire ; 

 and twice in Devon : in July 1840, and in June 1878. In 

 Cornwall, according to Eodd, about a dozen instances are 

 known — all in spring — and most of the examples were in 

 immature plumage. In Breconshire, one (May); in Cumber- 

 land, one (July) ; Shropshire claims one ; Nottinghamshire, 

 one (August) ; and Yorkshire, one. On the east coast, four 

 examples have been obtained in Norfolk (May to July), and 

 at least two in Suffolk ; and one near Gainsborough, in 

 Lincolnshire (June). 



In Scotland, an example was shot on the Glasgow Canal 

 on the 9th October, 1852 ('Naturalist,' 1853, p. 61); and 

 Mr. R. Gray exhibited a specimen in the collection of the 

 Duke of Buccleuch, shot at Dalmahoy, in the parish of 

 Ratho (Pr. Phys. Soc. Edinb. iv. p. 216). Six instances are 

 on record of its visits to Ireland : — three in the counties of 

 Cork and Waterford, and one each in Kerry and King's 

 County; all between May and July; one, Londonderry, 

 according to Mr. R. Lloyd Patterson, on the 23rd November, 

 1881 : an unusually late date. 



On the Continent the Squacco Heron is a spring and 

 summer visitor which has only occurred as a rare straggler 

 in Northern Germany, Denmark, Holland, Belgium, and 

 the north of France, but it becomes tolerably common in 

 the valley of the Loire, where there can be little doubt that 

 it breeds. South of that line it is generally distributed in 

 suitable localities throughout Central and Southern Europe 

 from spring to autumn. In Spain it arrives in April, but 

 in the valley of the Danube it is the beginning of May 

 before it makes its appearance. It is known throughout the 

 Meditei'ranean ; and eastward its range extends to Palestine, 

 Asia Minor, and the marshes of the Caspian ; but it has not 

 yet been traced beyond Persia. In the west it has occurred 

 in the Canaries ; and it breeds in considerable numbers in 

 the marshes of Morocco, Algeria, and the rest of northern 

 Africa, including Egypt ; being to a great extent resident 



