AND NEIGHBOURHOOD. 107 



on which I have heard that name, it was used by 

 a Highland gamekeeper. In Andalucia we found 

 small flights of from half a dozen to twenty indi- 

 viduals of this species feeding on the muddy banks 

 of the Guadalquivir at low-water, and resorting 

 at other times to some swampy grass savannahs 

 with which the neighbouring pine-forest was inter- 

 spersed ; here the birds were easy to shoot by stalking 

 and driving, and it was here that I shot, in May 

 1872, a specimen of the American Whimbrel, 

 Numenius hudsoniciis, a very rare straggler to Europe, 

 which very closely resembles our bird in most 

 respects, but has rufous axillary feathers ; this bird 

 was alone, and rose like a Snipe within easy shot 

 from a rushy nook amongst some sand-hills. Our 

 "Whimbrel is a good bird for the table at most 

 seasons of the year ; but of course a lengthened 

 residence on the sea-shore does not improve the 

 flavour of its flesh. 



163. COMMON HERON. 



Ardea ciaerea. 



Before relating any notes of my personal acquaint- 

 ance with this fine bird, it may be well to state what 

 I have been able to discover with regard to the 

 Heronries still existing in our county at Althorp and 

 Milton. Lord Spencer has been most obliging in 

 kindly furnishing me with many details concerning 

 the Althorp Herons, and in lending me a work 

 entitled ' The Washingtons,' by the Rev. J. Nassau 

 Simpkinson (sometime Rector of Brington), which 

 contains copious extracts from the very interesting 



