AND NEIGHBOURHOOD. 119 



them to Mr. Evans. They were sent np to Mr. I. 

 Pilcher on Dec. 4, 1879." I am not aware that this 

 occurrence has been previously made public, and am 

 glad to have the opportunity of adding this rare bird 

 to our district list, for I think that, although I 

 unadvisedly began these Notes in the Northampton- 

 shire Nat. Hist. Journal under the title of ' Birds of 

 Northamptonshire,' my critical readers will hardly 

 find fault with me for treating of the country lying 

 between the Welland and the Ouse from Huntingdon 

 down to the point where it enters Norfolk, — in fact 

 the extreme south-western corner of that county 

 would, in my opinion, be fairly included in notes 

 relating to our Naseby watershed; but the Birds of 

 Norfolk have been treated of by abler pens than mine, 

 as I hope those of Huntingdon and Cambridgeshire 

 may before long be. 



This species is a very rare visitor to our country, 

 and it appears from Yarrell, 4th edition, that "some 

 of the records of its reported occurrence are far from 

 being satisfactory." 



This bird is locally abundant in many parts of 

 southern and south-eastern Europe ; I found it 

 breeding in large numbers in Andalucia in company 

 with Buff-backed Egrets, and Night Herons, in 

 wooded swamps. The nests are very slight, and 

 often so crowded in a favourite bush or tree with 

 those of the two species just mentioned, that it is 

 only by the difference of the eggs that it is possible 

 to ascertain to which of the three they belong. The 

 little Egret lays about the end of May ; the usual 

 complement of eggs is four, but more are occasionally 

 laid. They are of a pale blue-green, but have more 

 colour and are considerably larger than those of the 



