ARDEA PURPUREA. 711 
ton. Mr. Rickard records it from the neighbourhood of East 
London and Port Elizabeth, but it is not very common, as Captain 
Trevelyan met with only two specimens during his residence there. 
Mr. Ayres says that in Natal it frequents streams and marshes, 
and he has found good-sized fish in the stomach. In the Transvaal 
Mr. Buckley found it common throughout the open country, and 
Mr. Ayres gives the following account of its nesting in the same 
locality. “This Heron chooses for its breeding-place a secluded 
reedy swamp. The nest is placed some few feet above the water 
(which is frequently out of one’s depth), on reeds bent down by the 
bird so as to meet from all directions and thus form a sufficiert 
support for the nest, which is a very rough structure composed ct 
dead sticks and pieces of reeds; it is two or three feet in diameter, 
with a very slight concavity. These Herons lay three or four eggs; 
and frequently five or six pairs breed in company, placing their 
nests within a few yards of one another.” 
Mr. Barratt writes :—“ The Purple Heron I have met with through- 
out my travels in tlie Free State and the Transvaal, but not further 
north than Nazareth in the latter state. I found that it became 
less common in the southern portions of the Free State, and A. cinerea 
seemed to take its place to a great extent. It is not so shy as most 
of the Herons, for I could generally easily procure a specimen near 
Potchefstroom when required.” According to Sir John Kirk it 
was common in all marshy places in the Zambesi region. It 
breeds in the swampy spots or islands, making its nest at the 
foot of reeds; each has two or three eggs in February. They 
live in societies, returning to the same place a little before sunset. 
Mr. Andersson says: ‘‘I have not unfrequently shot this bird on 
the rivers Okavango and Teoughe, and at Lake N’gami, and I 
believe it also visits Damara Land during the rainy season; but the 
specimens which I obtained in the latter country were not preserved, 
and I am therefore unable positively to identify them. These birds 
live in small flocks or societies, and frequent marshy ground and 
the sides of running streams; they make daily excursions from 
some fixed point, to which they return at nightfall. The nest is 
formed in the ground, at the roots of reeds, in some swamp or 
dense reed-bed.” 
Senor Anchieta has found the species only at Humbe on the 
Cunene River. 
