358 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. 



to afford actual proof that young birds were capable of breed- 

 ing. 



The crest feathers of this species vary in number from two 

 to six, the usual number, however, being three. Mr E. Hearle 

 Eodd, of Penzance, in a communication to the Zoologist (p. 

 4913), records the occurrence of a specimen in Cornwall with 

 ten occipital plumes. 



I am indebted to the Earl of Mar for an opportunity of 

 submitting to the fellows of the Society for inspection the 

 beautiful specimen now on the table. His Lordship could give 

 no particulars as to the sex, contents of stomach, or even the 

 precise date of the bird's occurrence. I, however, had previously 

 recorded in one of my note-books that the bird was shot on 

 the 23d May 1879, while perched on a tree on the banks of 

 the Black Devon, adjoining Alloa Park policies, by one of his 

 Lordship's gamekeepers. 



Eegarding the occurrence of the European night heron in 

 other parts of Scotland, I may be allowed to refer to a volume 

 on the "Birds of the West of Scotland," published in 1871. 

 This may be regarded as the fifth recorded example during a 

 period of about sixty years. 



About two months ago I received a letter from Mr Oliver 

 Eaton, Kilmarnock, in which he informed me that three years 

 ago a young night heron was shot near that town by a young 

 gunner, who had been in the habit of supplying him with 

 specimens, but that having lost my address he had been pre- 

 vented acquainting me sooner of the circumstance. I at 

 once wrote to him, and begged him to forward the bird, which 

 he has since done ; and as it appears to me to possess the 

 distinctive characters, so far as I can ascertain from the 

 mutilated state of the specimen, of the American night 

 heron {Nyeticorax gardeni), I exhibit it as such to you this 

 evening, reserving to myself, however, the alternative of 

 pronouncing this form to be a mere variety of the Nyeticorax 

 griseus. I may here remark that it is now ascertained that 

 the original description of the night heron (Ardea gardeni) 

 was given by Gmelin from a young example of the American 

 bird, and not its European representative, the Nyeticorax 



