BUFF-BACKED HERON. 463 



cated to the Linncan Society by Colonel Montagu on the 5th 

 of May 1807, and appears in the ninth volume of the Trans- 

 actions of that Society, page 197. A more detailed account 

 was afterwards published by Montagu in the Supplement to 

 liis Ornithological Dictionary, from which some of the follow- 

 ing particulars are derived. 



" This elegant little species of Heron, which was shot near 

 Kingsbridge in Devonshire in the latter end of October 

 1805, had been seen for several days in the same field, at- 

 tending some cows, and picked up insects, which were found 

 in its stomach. It was by no means shy, and was fired at a 

 second time before it was secured. The situation where it 

 was shot is the southern promontory of Devon, very near the 

 coast, between the Start and the Prawl." I have since 

 learned from the Rev. Robert Holdsworth, that this ornitho- 

 logical prize was shot by Mr. F. Cornish, at South Allington, 

 in the parish of Chivelstone. It was placed in Colonel Mon- 

 tagu''s collection by Mr. Nicholas Luscombe, of Kingsbridge, 

 and the specimen is still preserved in the British Museum. 

 It is a young bird, and proved on dissection to be a female. 



This specimen. Colonel Montagu observes, " appears to 

 be allied to that variety found at Bologna in Italy, which is 

 described to have the top of the head and the neck nearly of 

 a saflPron colour ; the breast the same, but paler, — perhaps a 

 sexual distinction. The legs in that variety are said to be 

 saffron colour : it must, however, be recollected, that the 

 colour of the fleshy parts, as well as the plumage, sometimes 

 depend on age." 



The plumage here referred to resembles that of the adult 

 bird of this species, which is now ascertained to be found in 

 the warmer parts of Europe, and also in Asia, but is not an 

 inhabitant of America, the Ardea (equinocti'alis, with which 

 it has been confounded, being a distinct species, and confined 

 to that continent. 



