ARDEID/K. 



367 



THE NIGHT-HERON. 



Nvc'iicoRAX GRisEUS (Linnceus). 



The first specimen of the Night-Heron recorded in England was 

 shot near London in May 1872 ; since which more than sixty ex- 

 amples have been obtained in the British Islands, and the species 

 may be considered as an almost annual visitor in spring and autumn. 

 In the south-western counties it would probably have bred, if un- 

 molested ; for in 'The Zoologist' (p. 2528), a Mr. C. J. Bulteel has 

 recorded in detail his success in destroying eight adult birds — four 

 males and four females — in Devonshire, between May 23rd and 

 June 22nd 1849. Both old and young have been taken along 

 the south coast as far west as Cornwall ; more than twenty in the 

 eastern counties, and a good many inland ; fewer from Yorkshire 

 northwards ; while to the western side of the island its visits have 

 been unfrequent. In Scotland three occurrences in the south, and 

 one each in Argyllshire and Aberdeenshire are on record ; and in 

 Ireland ten or twelve examples have been obtained in various 

 localities, from Cork in the south to Donegal in the north. 



