174 BIRDS OP NORFOLK. 



In the " Zoologist" for 1848 (p. 1965), the following 

 passage occurs, amongst other ornithological records, 

 by Messrs. Gurney and Fisher : " An example of the 

 AMERICAN BITTERN (Botaurus lentiginosus) , another 

 interesting addition to the birds of Norfolk, has been 

 killed at Yarmouth ; but not having seen the bird, we 

 are not at present able to add anything to the bare 

 mention of its occurrence." No doubt further enquiry 

 at the time convinced the above authors that they had 

 been misinformed ; and as neither Mr. Gurney nor Mr. 

 Fisher have now any recollection of the circumstance, 

 this species holds no place in the Norfolk list. 



NYCTICORAX GARDENI* (Dickinson). 

 NIGHT-HERON. 



The earliest record I can find of the occurrence of 

 this species in Norfolk is the statement in Sir W. 

 Hooker's M.S., on the authority of the late Mr. Lilly 

 Wigg, that, "Mr. Stagg shot one of these birds in 

 Yarmouth about the year 1800."f We have next the 



* As I have undertaken to follow the nomenclature of Yarrell, 

 I am compelled to use this name, but it is now well known that 

 the Ardea gardeni of Gmelin, was originally described from a 

 young example of the American night-heron, and not the European 

 representative species, which should stand as Nycticorax griseus 

 (Linn.) It is not easy to ascertain who first confounded the two 

 birds, but I imagine that Mr. Dickinson was the author of the 

 mistake (" Trans. Linn. Soc." v., p. 276), and accordingly append 

 his name to that of the bird, it being clearly understood that his 

 Ardea gardeni was not the same as A. gardeni (Gmelin.) 



f Like the subsequent specimen in 1824, this bird was shot 

 from a tree in a nursery garden, as stated by Messrs. Sheppard 

 and Whitear, although the date is not given by them. 



