GREAT WHITE HERON. 455 



The early accounts of this bird found in Turner and Wil- 

 lughby have been considered scarcely sufficient to authorise 

 the retaining it in our catalogue of British Birds ; but latterly, 

 more precise information has been obtained on the subject, 

 though the Great White Heron can only now be considered 

 as an accidental visiter. Dr. Latham refers to one example 

 killed in Cumberland not many years ago. Montagu, in his 

 Supplement, says, " A White Heron made its appearance 

 on the borders of the river Avon, in Devonshire, in the au- 

 tumn of the year 1805, where it was frequently observed in 

 company with three or four of the common species, and some- 

 times alone. The Rev. Mr. Vaughan, who had frequent 

 opportunities of observing it, and used every means to pro- 

 cure it, thinks, from its apparently superior size, it must have 

 been Ardea alba, and not a variety of the Common Heron ; 

 but its extreme wariness disappointed the many attempts to 

 shoot it, although it continued within the range of a few 

 miles for two months." 



The Rev. Revett Sheppard, and the Rev. William Whit- 

 car, in their catalogue of the Norfolk and Suffolk Birds, 

 published at the commencement of the fifteenth volume of 

 the Transactions of the Linnean Society, say, " that on the 

 8rd of October 1834, in a walk on the banks of the river 

 Stour, we observed a large White Heron cross over from the 

 Suffolk to the Essex side of the river. It appeared to be 

 pure white, and to stand up rather taller than some Common 

 Herons, which were feeding not far off. A similar bird was 

 observed in the spring on the Oakley shores ; and, subse- 

 quently to our observation, one was seen on the banks of the 

 river Orwell." But the most valuable addition to our know- 

 ledge of the occurrence of this species in England, was sup- 

 plied by Mr. Arthur Strickland in a communication made to 

 the Natural History Section of the British Association, at its 

 meeting at Newcastle in August 1838, as published in the 



