550 



THE Great White Heron can only be considered as an 

 accidental visitor. Dr. Latham refers to one example 

 killed in Cumberland some years back. Montagu, in his 

 Supplement, says, " A White Heron made its appear- 

 ance on the borders of the river Avon, in Devonshire, 

 in the autumn of the year 1805, where it was frequently 

 observed in company with three or four of the common 

 species, and sometimes alone. The Rev. Mr. Vaughan, 

 who had frequent opportunities of observing it, and used 

 every means to procure it, thinks, from its apparently 

 superior size, it must have been Ardea alba, and not a 

 variety of the Common Heron ; but its extreme wariness 

 disappointed the many attempts to shoot it, although it 

 continued within the range of a few miles for two months." 



The Rev. Revett Sheppard, and the Rev. William Whit- 

 ear, in their Catalogue of the Norfolk and Suffolk Birds, 

 published at the commencement of the fifteenth volume of 

 the Transactions of the Linnean Society, say, " that on the 

 3rd of October, 1834, in a walk on the banks of the river 

 Stour, we observed a large White Heron cross over from 

 the Suffolk to the Essex side of the river. It appeared to 

 be pure white, and to stand up rather taller than some 

 Common Herons, which were feeding not far off. A similar 

 bird was observed in the spring on the Oakley shores ; 

 and, subsequently to our observation, one was seen on the 

 banks of the river Orwell." But the most valuable addi- 

 tion to our knowledge of the occurrence of this species in 

 England, was supplied by Mr. Arthur Strickland in a com- 

 munication made to the Natural History Section of the 

 British Association, at its meeting at Newcastle in August, 

 1838, as published in the seventh volume of the Reports. 

 Mr. Strickland stated, " that this bird had been unjustly 

 excluded from the catalogue of occasional visitors to this 

 country by late authors, as he could prove on unquestion- 



