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It breeds in society, nesting like the rooks on high 
trees, and forming Heronries, as they are termed. 
The eggs, of which from three to five are found, 
are of a bluish green, two inches and a quarter 
in length, an inch and three-quarters in breadth. 
In England, when hawking was a favourite pas- 
time, this species enjoyed the protection of the 
game-laws. 
HERON, GREAT WHITE. 
Great WuHire EGRET. 
ARDEA EGRETTA, lem. 
This species, which is said to occur abundantly 
in the eastern parts of Europe, and to straggle 
occasionally to its western shores, has been met 
with in a few instances in England. It is an 
accidental visitor to Germany, France, and 
Italy. It has also been taken in Corsica and 
Sardinia, where, however, it is not so common 
as among the islands of the Grecian Archipelago, 
Turkey, and Hungary. It feeds on small fish, 
reptiles, aquatic birds, insects, &c., and breeds on 
the ground among reeds and herbage, producing 
four or five large bluish eggs. The adult males 
and females are alike in plumage. 
