ARDEID^E. 225 



acquisitions procured in his immediate neighbour- 

 hood. 



COMMON BITTERN, Botaurus stellaris. Of less 

 frequent occurrence than formerly. Is sometimes 

 met with among tall reeds on the banks of large 

 ponds and in sedgy swamps, but from the size and 

 remarkable appearance of the bird, when on the 

 wing, there is little chance, now-a-days, of its re- 

 maining for any length of time undiscovered or 

 unmolested. I have seen the bittern flushed from 

 the reed-beds at the upper pond in Burton Park. 



NIGHT HERON, Nycticorax Gardeni. Has been 

 shot on two or three occasions in Sussex. Mr. 

 W. Borrer informed me that he examined a recent 

 specimen, which was killed near Alfriston, in No- 

 vember, 1839 a bird of the year. Since that 

 period another example has occurred near Cuck- 

 mere Haven. 



WHITE SPOONBILL, Platalea leucorodia. A rare~~~ 

 straggler. Has been shot at Rye and at Pagham 

 Harbour. The Chichester museum contains an 

 example which was killed in that neighbourhood, 

 and a fine specimen in my own collection was shot 

 near Seaford, in the autumn of 1844. 



L5 



