PURPLE HERON— WHITE HERON— LITTLE EGRET 73 



common heron in many respects, as for instance in the choice of its food. It nests 



in some parts of Holland, but more frequently in Hungary, southern Austria, and 



the Dobrudscha, occasionally straggling to Britain and Germany and rangino- into 



central Asia. In length it measures about 36 inches. In colour the crown of the 



head and its crest are black, the throat is white, and the neck reddish brown with 



a black stripe down each side, and another on the nape. The back, wings, and 



tail are grey, the breast is red, and the thighs rufous. 



The great white heron or egret (Herodias alba) lives amid sur- 

 Wliite Heron. . . . . .. 



roundings similar to those 01 the purple species, its nesting-sites being 

 dense reed-patches by the side of a swamp, or trees growing in water. Usually 

 only a few pairs make their nests in company, but in winter these herons collect 

 in considerable flocks. They are exceedingly graceful birds, and in the air may be 

 distinguished from common herons by their narrower wings, by the more back- 

 ward extension of the legs, as well as by the lighter and more buoyant character 

 of the flight. Their food includes fishes, small mammals, and lizards, although 

 insects and snails captured in the water or on herbage in the meadows are 

 preferred. In Europe this conspicuous bird is extremely shy, but in many parts 

 of China it is so well treated by the natives that it has become quite tame, 

 frequently perching on trees near human dwellings, and seeking its food in the 

 neighbouring ponds. Its distributional area extends from southern and south- 

 eastern Europe through Asia to Japan and Australia, the bird wintering in 

 northern India, Burma, and Africa. In Spain, France, and Italy it is rare, but it 

 is rarer still in Germany. As a straggler it is known in the British Isles and the 

 south of Sweden. Formerly it was a frequent breeding species in the Danubian 

 countries from Hungary to the Dobrudscha, but it has been so much sought after 

 for the sake of the plumes known as " ospreys " that its numbers have greatly 

 diminished in those districts. These plumes are the long filamentous feathers 

 developed on the back during the breeding-season, which disappear in autumn. 

 The colour of the plumage is entirely white, with the beak and feet black. In 

 length the great white egret measures about 44 inches. 



The little egret (H. garzetta) also frequents swamps and gently 



flowing rivers, although it shuns reed-beds in favour of trees growing 

 in small clumps near or in water. A favourite site for the nest is a pollard willow, 

 some 10 or 12 feet above the water. The nest is a loosely interlaced mass of thin 

 twigs, sometimes lined with reeds, flags, and grasses, its bulk being equal to that 

 of a crow's nest. Towards the end of May it contains three or four (rarely five) 

 bluish green eggs. This graceful bird, whose plumes are not so highly appreciated 

 as those of the white heron, is about 20 inches in length, with white plumage, black 

 beak, and greenish yellow legs and feet. Inhabiting all the Mediterranean countries, 

 especially in the east, this egret is also found in the plains of the Danube, the 

 countries round the Black and Caspian Seas, the valley of the Volga, the Sea of . 

 Aral, and other inland waters of central Asia, as well as in China and Japan. 

 It frequently appears in the delta of the Nile, and occasionally straggles into 

 Germany, northern France, Holland, and England, although unknown north of the 

 Baltic. It breeds as far south as Cape Colony, and has been shot in northern 

 Australia. 



