THE BIRDS OF RAINHAM. 57 



OYSTER CATCHER. 

 Hczmatopus ostralegus, Linn. 



The Oyster Catcher seldom comes on the Medway, 

 there is a great deal too much traffic going on for 

 them ; a few appear singly and are sometimes shot. 



HERON. 

 Ardea cineria^ Linn. 



Herons visit our marshes and the river Medway all 

 the year round, most numerous in the autumn when 

 the young are able to fly ; they come from a neigh- 

 bouring heronry at Cobham, near Gravesend, where 

 they are strictly preserved by the Earl of Darnley. 



PURPLE HERON. 

 Ardea purpurea. Linn. 



An immature specimen of the Purple Heron was 

 shot a few years ago in the vicinity of an old decoy- 

 pond where some patches of reeds grow, near the 

 Swale river. 



BITTERN. 

 Botaurus stellaris (Linn.). 



Our forty acres of spring marshes, where long 

 thick herbage grows in the spring-water ditches 



