118 THE BIRDS OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



four of these birds alive at Lilford, one of whicli T 

 obtained in the previous autumn, the other three 

 were birds of the year ; they were all very tame and 

 fed greedily upon small fishes and raw meat, but 

 their favourite dainty was a frog. They occasionally 

 struck at each other in a sort of schoolboy fashion, 

 but were most certainly very much less vicious and 

 crabbed in temperament than our Common Pleron. 

 These were not the first of their species that I have 

 kept at Lilford, and my experience is that they are 

 very hardy birds, and well able to bear the ordinary 

 amenities of our English winters, but, in common 

 with most birds, suffer more during a long continuance 

 of strong cold winds than from any amount of frost, 

 snow, or rain. 



165. LITTLE EGRET 



Ardea garzetta. 



Colonel Strong, above mentioned, in writing to me 

 in the spring of 1889, informed me that he had an 

 idea that two of this species had been killed near 

 Whittlesea many years ago, and had found their way 

 through the late Mr. Holeywell, who shot them, into 

 the hands of Mr. John Evans, the well-known taxi- 

 dermist of Bourn, on application to whom, I learned 

 that they certainly belonged to this species, and that 

 he had sold them to Dr. Pilcher of Boston, Lines. 

 I at once wrote to that gentleman, who wrote in 

 reply : — " Mr. Evans showed these birds to Mr. I. 

 Pilcher on July 31st, 1879, and gave their history 

 as having been shot on Whittlesea nearly 30 years 

 before by Holeywell of Peterborougli, who gave 



