24 BRITISH BIRDS. WITH THEIR NESTS AND EGGS. 



Family ARDEIDsE. 



THE NIGHT-HERON. 



Nycticorax griseus, LiNN. 



THE Night-Heron is only a rare straggler to tlie British Isles, its visits 

 being recorded generally in the migration seasons of spring and autumn, 

 from Scotland and Ireland, as well as England. The number of its visits alto- 

 gether is, however, large in comparison with that of several of our other visiting 

 Herodiones. It has appeared in some localities in companies of a few pairs ; but 

 the persistency with which every rare bird-migrant to our country is killed as 

 soon as observed, precludes the hope that this species will ever be permitted to 

 breed anywhere in it ; and there is no reason why it should not do so, if it were 

 left unmolested. 



The distributional range of the Night-Heron is very wide. It prefers a 

 moderately warm climate, consequently it is not found far to the north, but it is 

 to be met with in the latitudes which favour it, across from mid-Europe to the 

 eastern-most coasts of Asia. During its migratory wanderings, it occasionally 

 finds its way even to the Pelew Islands, in the Pacific. It occurs throughout 

 Africa, and also in the middle and southern parts of North America, and the 

 northern regions of South America, as well as in the West Indian Islands. In 

 many parts of Europe it was formerly more abundant than now, its decrease being 

 due to the extensive draining, during the past century, of the swamps and marshes 

 which it used to inhabit. 



The Night-Heron begins to arrive in Europe, from its southern winter 

 retreats, in the middle of April, and by the middle of May it has reached its 

 various breeding places. 



The Night-Heron is a shorter bird in every way than any of the true Herons, 

 and it has comparatively a much stouter and shorter bill. In the male the crown 

 and nape of the head, with the back and scapulars, are black, washed with dark 

 green ; the sides of the neck, the hind neck, the lower scapulars, the wings, and 

 the lower back, down to the tail, are pinkish lavender grey ; the forehead, a line 

 above the eye, the cheeks, the throat, and the whole under surface of the bod}-, 

 are pure white. From the nape proceed, during the nuptial season, from two (as 



