GREAT WHITE EGRET. 135 



occurrence than the last, and, until within these 

 few years, authentic accounts of its appearance 

 were somewhat questionable, or rested on the au- 

 thority of specimens which could not be then 

 traced. At the meeting of the British Association, 

 in 1838, Mr. Strickland stated his opinion, that 

 this bird was improperly excluded, and stated three 

 instances of its capture within a comparatively 

 recent period in Yorkshire ; to these Mr. Yarrell 

 adds an instance of another, shot on the Isis in 

 Oxfordshire. A specimen, of a White Egret, was 

 also shot during last winter at Tyningham, the 

 seat of Lord Haddington, in Haddingtonshire. 

 This has been considered to be the large species, 

 or that we are now describing, but we have not 

 had an opportunity of examining it : and, accor- 

 ding to the newspapers, a " White Heron" \*as 

 several times seen during the same winter upon 

 the shores of the Sol way, on the English side, 

 above Port Carlisle, which also may have been 

 identical with the Great Egret. 



In Northern or Central Europe, the Large Egret 

 appears to be nowhere very abundant, but becomes 

 more frequent in the Grecian Archipelago, in Tur- 

 key, and on the Asiatic boundary. White Herons 

 brought from Continental India by Colonel Sykes, 

 are considered identical in that gentleman's cata- 

 logue, and it is a range very likely to be taken by 

 the species. The American Large White Heron is 

 distinct, and represents it in the New World. We 

 have also another, closely allied, in New Holland. 



