88 THE BIRDS OF DEVONSHIRE. 



BUFF-BACKED HERON.— ^nfra MMJnis, Andouin. 

 A BARE \isitant. Montagu added this little Heron 

 to the British list, having obtained a female bird, 

 shot by Mr. F. Cornish at South Allington near Kings - 

 bridge in October 1805, and recorded its history in 

 the Transactions of the Linnean Society (Vol. IX. 

 p. 197), as also in the Suj^plement to his 

 Ornithological Dictionary Tlie bird * ' had been 

 seen for several days in the same field, attending 

 some cows, and picking up insects, which were found 

 in its stomach. It was by no means shy, and was 

 fired at a second time before it was secured. The 

 situation where it was shot is the southern 

 promontory of Devon, very near the coast, between 

 the Start and the Prawl." This immature 

 specimen is preserved in the Natural History 

 Museum at South Kensington. It is possible that 

 a record of a bird shot in South Devon, April, 1851, 

 and described by Mr. Cleveland as '' Ardearussata," 

 may refer to this species (Zool. 1851. p. 3116). 



SQUACCO 'REB.Ol^.—ArdmraUoides, Scop. 



A RARE visitant. Mr. Rowe writes :*' Rare. One 

 was killed near Kingsbridge in 1840, and one or 

 two have since been obtained from the Tamar '' 

 (Catalogue of Birds, p. 37). There is no doubt at 

 all that a Squacco Heron was killed at Blatchford 

 in June or July, 1810. Dr. Elliot says that a man 

 called " Otter Dairs " shot it, and certainly inform- 

 ation was sent to Mr. Yarrell. The specimen 



