LITTLE EGRET. . 555 



graph in the Magazine of Natural History for 1836, page 

 647 : " I have a very fine specimen of the Egret, said to 

 have been shot at or near Sutton Coldfield, in Warwick- 

 shire. I bought it of a very respectable bird-stuffer, who 

 assured me he had received the bird direct from the person 

 who shot it. Still I confess I had my doubts, and bought 

 the skin more for its beauty than as an authentic British 

 specimen. However, during a visit in April last to Lord 

 Mount Norris, at Arley Hall, I happened to meet with a 

 gentleman, who assured me that within the last few years 

 he had known of three specimens of the Egret, and two of 

 the Little Bittern, having been shot at Sutton Coldfield. 

 I therefore think there is no doubt of its occurrence in 

 this country, though it must be classed among our rarest 

 birds." 



The Rev. Robert Holdsworth, of Brixham, to whom I 

 am indebted for many valuable communications in Natural 

 History, sent me word that in 1816 a bird was shot on 

 Flatoars, a shoal in the river Dart, dry at low-tide, which 

 exactly corresponded with the description of the Egret in 

 Montagu's Ornithological Dictionary as a bird of the 

 second year, being tinged with grey on the neck and 

 breast. 



The Little Egret has occurred occasionally in Germany 

 and in France ; there is a specimen in the Museum at Ge- 

 neva that was obtained in Switzerland ; it occurs in Spain 

 and in Provence, at Genoa occasionally in the month of 

 May, and in Italy, in Sardinia, in Sicily, from whence I 

 have seen a specimen the Grecian Archipelago, and in 

 Turkey. Messrs. Dickson and Ross sent the Zoological 

 Society an example from Erzeroum, and M. Hohenacker, 

 the Russian naturalist, includes it among the birds of the 

 country between the Black and the Caspian Seas. 



Mr. Blyth says it is very common in India. 



