HERON. 145 



at different ages, and incubation lasts about three weeks ; 

 the full plumage being assumed after pretty nearly the 

 same length of time. The number of nests in this 

 Heronry in 1877 was eight, and since then it has never 

 exceeded sixteen. 



PUKPLE HERON. 



Ardea purpurea, Linnaeus. 



[In The Zoohniist, 1887, p. 432, Mr. J. Pickin records 

 an adult male of this species, killed on April 7th of that 

 year near Alderley Edge, about thirteen miles from 

 Manchester.— Ed. 1 



GENUS ARDETTA. 



LITTLE BITTERN. 



Ardetta minuta (Linnaeus). 



This species is very rare, and generally occurs in 

 summer, though Byerley states that one was shot at 

 Aigburth in 1854 in January. Bullock (" Companion to 

 Liverpool Museum," 7th edit., 1809) says " one was killed 

 perching on a tree near Manchester in June, 1808," and 

 in a museum at Burnley is a specimen from Foulridge, 

 Colne, taken in 1816. Mr. Thomas Webster records 

 (Zoohxiist [1849^ , p. 2499) that on May 19, 1849, a Little 

 Bittern was shot near the reservoirs of Gorton, and Mr. 

 J. B. Hodgkinson informs me that specimens have 

 occurred on Freckleton Marsh, and at Barton near 

 Preston, and that one in his possession was shot at 

 Crossens near Southport. 



L 



