130 THE BIRDS OF DORSET. 



tree in the wood, and in the evening went off to its 

 feeding-ground in the water-meadows close by. A 

 fourth was shot at Tincleton by Mr. Bridle. 



NIGHT HERON. Nydicorax griseus, (L.) 



Yarrell, iv. p. 195; Harting, p. 56; Dresser, vi. p. 269; Ibis 

 List, p. no ; Nycticorax nycticorax, Seebohm, ii. p. 496. 



There is good reason to believe that this bird used 

 at one time to nest annually in England in suit- 

 able localities. 1 Although a rare visitor to Dorset- 

 shire, it has occurred on several occasions in the 

 county. One shot at Radipole, near Weymouth, in 

 May 1843, was sold to the Rev. J. Horner of Mells 

 Park, Somersetshire. Another, curiously enough, was 

 procured forty years later, in May 1883, near the 

 same place. 



LITTLE BITTERN. Ardetta minuta, (L.) 



Yarrell, iv. p. 200; Dresser, vi. p. 259; Ibis List, p. no; 

 Botaurus minutus, Harting, p. 57; Seelolim, ii. p. 510; 

 Ardea minuta, Pulteney's List, p. 14. 



An occasional visitant. Pulteney mentions one 

 shot on the Bere river, another at Upton, and a third 

 at Lytchett. One killed at Preston, near Weymouth, 

 in 1840, is now in the possession of Mr. Montague 

 Guest. In 1866 three, which had been shot on the 

 Wareham river, passed through the hands of Mr. 

 Hart of Christchurch ; and on March 25 of that year 

 one was shot at Coombe Farm, Langton Maltravers. 

 1 Harting, " Handbook of British Birds," p. 56. 



