0)1 the Night Heron and the American Night Heron. 359 



griseus of Linntuus ; and that Dr Elliot Coues, one of the 

 most recent, and perhaps the most scientific, writers on 

 American ornithology, considers it a variety, the bird appear- 

 ing in his " Key to North American Birds " as Nyctiardea 

 grisea, var. 7icevia. Spencer Baird says, the American night 

 heron is larger than the European, although it is right to 

 mention that Audubon states it is subject to considerable 

 variation in size at all seasons of the year. Prince Bona- 

 parte holds the two to be distinct, and Wilson, in contrasting 

 them, does not conceal the fact of the European bird being 

 the smallest. Another difference, however, is referred to by 

 Bonaparte and Baird — namely, that the quill feathers of the 

 American bird are tipped with white, which feature is not 

 observed in the European. Wilson distinctly refers to the 

 white spots on the tips of the quills, but from the scarcity of 

 British killed specimens in immature plumage few have been 

 described, and in these few descriptions no mention is made 

 of the apical spots, except in the case of one killed in Aber- 

 deenshire in January 1866, and referred to in the "Birds of 

 the West of Scotland " (p. 282) as probably new to Britain. 



The habits of the American night heron are very graphic- 

 ally pictured by Wilson and Audubon, but as the works of 

 both authors are readily accessible, I need not take up the 

 time of the meeting in referring to these. Wilson states that 

 the bird is a night feeder, and that its food consists of fish, 

 the stomachs of many birds which he opened being full of 

 such prey, though he does not say what species of fish they 

 prefer. 



With regard to the probabilities of the American night heron 

 being driven to the shores of Britain occasionally, I think the 

 annual migrations of the species are quite sufficient to 

 account for its erratic appearances. We know that young 

 birds of the year assemble in large flocks at the close of the 

 breeding season and proceed southwards to a great distance. 

 We also know that in Bermuda, which lies about six hundred 

 miles almost due east of the Southern States of America, flocks 

 of these birds arrive in September and disappear in March, 

 thus effecting a journey of twelve hundred miles across what 

 must be to them a waste of turbulent waters, and during 



