PURPLE HERON. 451 



Pennant and Montagu so many instances liavc been recorded 

 of the occurrence of this bird, in different states of plumage, 

 in this country, on the southern coast by Dr. Edward Moore 

 of Plymouth, and of other examples on our eastern coast by 

 Mr. Sclby and Mr. Hoy, that no doubt can remain of the 

 propriety of including it in a History of British Birds. Mr. 

 Couch, of Polperro, sent Bewick a drawing taken from a spe- 

 cimen which alighted on a fishing-boat two or three leagues 

 from the coast of Cornwall. The bird was caught and 

 brought on shore alive, but soon died. Dr. Edward !Moore 

 notices two examples, both young birds, in Devonshire ; and 

 in February 1839, Plumptre Methuen, Esq. sent me word 

 that he had obtained a specimen shot near Plymouth. Mr. 

 Selby, who published in 1833, says, I may mention that in 

 the month of May 1830, a fine male Purple Heron, that 

 was killed in Norfolk, came into my possession, and its mate 

 into that of Sir William Jardine ; and in a note, adds, since 

 writing the above, I have heard of three other specimens, two 

 killed in Norfolk, and another near to London. Mr. Hoy, 

 in the Magazine of Natural History for 1837, vol. x. p. 116, 

 says, " sometime in the month of November 1835, a Purple- 

 crested Heron was obtained on the borders of a large piece of 

 water, known by the name of King'^s Fleet, near the mouth 

 of the Woodbridge river, in Suffolk. The bird rose from 

 the thick reeds which skirt the water, and was at first sup- 

 posed to have been a Bittern by the person Avho shot it. 

 This bird was in the plumage of the first year. From the 

 redness of its colours, at this age, it may be readily mistaken 

 for the Bittern when first seen. I have known two other 

 instances of this species of Heron occurring in this county ; 

 I have also known two or three individuals to have been met 

 Avith in Norfolk, within a few years." Mr. Thompson has 

 also made known one instance of this bird having been killed 

 in Ireland. 



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