90 THE BIRDS OF DEVONSHIRE. 



under the notice of Mr. Gatcombe (Zool. 1873. p. 

 3630). The Rev. M. A. Mathew records an adult 

 caught in a starved condition in April, 1876, near 

 Plymouth (ZooL 1876. p. 5046) ; he also records a 

 specimen of the Little Bittern, killed at Braunton, 

 near Barnstaple, in the first week of May, 1868. 

 Dr. Elliot has a beautiful male, shot June 2nd, 1885, 

 near Kingsbridge, as also a female previously 

 obtained. Other local specimens might be 

 enumerated, but the foregoing evidence will suffice 

 to explain the visits of the Little Bittern. The 

 season at which the majority of birds have been 

 killed, renders it probable, that had they been 

 spared, some of them might probably have bred iu 

 the county. 



NIGHT REROl^.—Ni/cf'icorax griseiis (Linn). 



A KARE summer visitant, that might have become a 

 permanent breeding species in the county, had 

 adequate protection been forthcoming. The year 

 1849 is memorable loith us in Devon^ for the arrival 

 of a flight of no less than eight adult Night Herons 

 in the neighbourhood of Flete, on the river Erme, 

 Forty years ago, there was of course no protection 

 for breeding birds, and the whole flight of birds, 

 four males and four females, were hilled oid^ 

 between their arrival on the 23rd of May and the 

 22nd of June. The Rev. C. Bulteel reports 

 that all the birds were preserved ; two are in the 

 collection of Mr. Andrews, and another is in 



