356 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. 



mannansliire of sufficient interest to entitle it to a short 

 notice in our Proceedings. 



This species is not confined to Europe, but has a somewhat 

 extensive geographical range, being found in Africa, India, 

 China, and, according to some authors, Japan. Captain 

 Shelley, in his " Birds of Egypt," says, it is abundant through- 

 out Egypt, usually in flocks, frequenting palm trees ; and the 

 Eev. A. C. Smith, in his work on the " Attractions of the Mle 

 and its Banks," speaks of flocks of night herons passing the 

 day on the tops of the palms, whence they would take flight 

 on being disturbed, and rise in the air to a great height, 

 sailing round in circles, and returning again to the trees after 

 the disturbance had subsided. 



Mr J. H. Gurney, jun., in his " Eambles of a Naturalist in 

 Egypt," published two years ago, but without a date, mentions 

 having met single birds frequently, and having also seen it in 

 flocks of about thirty upon the tops of the trees. Hasselquist, 

 a pupil of the great Linnaeus, states, in his " Travels in the 

 Levant," that in Lower Egypt it builds its nest in the date 

 trees and sycamores about Cairo, and that it feeds on the 

 frogs, insects, and little fish, which it gets in the overflown 

 fields. Hasselquist calls the bird the Egyptian kingfisher 

 {Alcedo jEgyptia), and adds, " its voice resembles that of the 

 raven." 



A most interesting account of the breeding habits of this bird 

 is given in the Ihis for 1861, by Mr Swinhoe, in a paper 

 entitled, " Notes on the Ornithology of Hong-kong, Macao, and 

 Canton." At page 53 of this Journal he says, with reference 

 to Nycticorax griseus — the Cantonese name being " moon-shoo - 

 haw " — " This is the sacred bird of the great Nonam Temple, 

 Canton. The courtyard in front of this temple contains some 

 venerable banyans, as well as a few towering cotton trees 

 (Bomhax malabaricurn,). On the higher branches of the former 

 the small flat wicker nests of the night heron may be seen in 

 all directions, some only a foot or so from others ; and the 

 croaking and flapping and fighting that goes on overhead bears 

 some distant resemblance to the crowded deck of an emigrant 

 steamer on first encountering a turbid sea. The granite slabs 

 that form the pavement beneath these trees are so bedaubed 



