354 BIRDS OF SOMERSETSHIRE. 
Mrs. Turle, the late birdstuffer at Taunton, who said 
she had had a specimen through her hands which 
had been killed near Bridgwater, I include this bird 
in my list. In enumerating the counties in which 
it has occurred, Yarrell also mentions the adjoining 
counties of Devon and Wilts, and in the ‘ Zoologist’ 
for 1867 is a note of its having been taken at Wey- 
mouth, in Dorsetshire: as it comes occasionally so 
close round us more specimens may have occurred 
in Somersetshire than have been recorded. It ap- 
pears only to be a summer visitor to this country, 
all the captures recorded being in the spring and 
summer, and Mr. Rodd says that in Cornwall speci- 
mens are taken, but always in the spring (April and 
May). 
According to Yarrell the nest is said to be built 
in trees; Meyer, however, supposes that it is usually 
placed on the ground in marshy places. As itis a 
summer visitor to this country we should probably 
be easily able to solve this difficulty, were it not 
that the gun is so frequently brought into requisi- 
tion immediately on the appearance of this or any 
other rare bird. 
The food appears to be much the same as that of 
others of the family—small fish, frogs, frog-spawn, 
Mollusca, water-beetles and other insects. 
This is a much smaller species than the last-men- 
tioned, being only about nineteen inches from the 
point of the beak to the end of the tail, instead of 
