PURPLE HERON. 145 
his general accuracy of observation so aptly describes,* 
is always a grand sight to witness, whether ascending of 
its own free will beyond our powers of vision, or com- 
pelled to adopt its spiral ascent, as a means of escape, 
from the carrion-crow or other feathered persecutors. 
Under either circumstances I have watched at various 
times the actions of this noble bird, and could but 
contrast the power and ease of its movements, when 
almost lost in the clouds, with its clumsy efforts to 
rise, and slow laboured flight when abruptly disturbed 
in a drain, or from the side of a reed-bush. Herons are 
not, I believe, particularly pugnacious amongst them- 
selves, but a singular occurrence at Roydon some years 
ago is recorded in the “ Zoologist” for 1846 (p. 1212) 
by the Rev. H. T. Frere. A pair of herons were seen by 
a boy fighting on the ground, and on running up to 
them one flew away and the other lay still and allowed 
the boy to pick it up. He then carried it to a gentleman 
who examined the bird, and found it very little injured, 
and on being placed on the lawn to recover, it soon 
availed itself of the chance, and, stretching its wings, 
made off altogether. 
ARDEA PURPURBA, Linneus. 
PURPLE HERON. 
It seems most probable from his minute description 
of the plumage? that under the name of “ Black Heron” 
* “notasque paludes 
Deserit, atque altam supra volat ardea nubem.” 
Georg: Lib. i., 1. 363, 364, 
+ “ Black on the sides, the bottom of the neck, with white grey 
on the outside, spotted all along with black on the inside. A black 
coppe of small feathers some a span long; bill pointed and yellow, 
U 
