SQUACCO HERON. 81 



III. AEDEID^E. 



174. COMMON HERON (Ardea cinerea). 



Hern, Heronsliaw, Heronseugh. It would have been no light 

 matter once to have molested a Heron. Those birds were " pre- 

 served with a strictness we scarcely can imagine even in these 

 days of game-preserves. They were the peculiar game of royal 

 and noble personages. Now, however, the case is widely 

 different, and probably not one Heron in a hundred can now be 

 met with as compared with the days of falconry. It is a strange 

 odd sight to see a Heron balancing himself on the topmost twig 

 of some fir-tree, and succeeding after a few uneasy motions of 

 body and wings in poising himself. The Heron sometimes breeds 

 on precipitous rocks, but much more commonly on trees, 

 generally trees of large size, and commonly oaks or firs. It is 

 not a solitary builder, but like the Rook forms a community, and 

 frequents the same tree or clump of trees through successive 

 years for many generations. Each nest is of large size, and com- 

 posed of sticks with a lining of wool. Tour or five eggs are 

 usually deposited, of an uniform pale green colour. A few nests 

 are said to have been met wtih on the ground. Fig. 1, plate VIII. 



175. PURPLE HERON (Ardea purpurea). 



A few instances only of the occurrence of this bird in Britain 

 have been recorded, 



176. GREAT WHITE HERON (Ardea alba). 

 White Heron, Great Egret. A rarer and more accidental 

 visitor than even the bird last named. 



177. LITTLE EGRET (Ardea garzetta). 



Egret, Egret Heron, Little Egret Heron There is good 

 reason to believe that this bird may once, at a remote period, 

 have been sufficiently common, or even abundant in England. 

 Now, however, it is of exceedingly rare occurrence anywhere 

 within the British seas. 



179. BUFF-BACKED HERON (Ardea russata). 

 Red-billed Heron, Rufous-backed Egret, Little White Heron 

 (the young). An exceedingly rare bird, with perhaps scanty 

 claim to be considered British at all. 



180. SQUACCO HERON (Ardea ralloides). 



Buff-coloured Egret. A bird which has been met with in 



several of the counties in the southern half of England, and I 



believe more or less frequently in some of them. Still it is but 



a visitor, and, comparatively with many other not very common 



