GREAT WHITE EGRET. 477 



ARDEA ALBA. 

 GREAT WHITE EGRET. 



(PLATE 38.) 



Ardea Candida, Briss. Orn. v. p. 428 (1760). 



Ardea alba, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 239 (1766) ; et auctorum plurimorum Gmeltn, 



Scopoli, Latham, (Bonaparte), (Salvadori) , (Degland 8f Gerbe), (Dresser), &c. 

 Ardea egrettoides, Gmel. Reise Kussl. ii. p. 193, pi. 25 (1774). 

 Egretta melanorhyncha, Wagkr, Isis, 1829, p. 659. 

 Herodias Candida (Briss.), Brehm, Vog. Deutschl. p. 584 (1831). 

 Egretta alba (Linn.), Bonap. Comp. List B. JEur. Sf N. Amer. p. 47 (1838). 

 Erodius victoriee, Macgill. Man. Brit. B. ii. p. 131 (1842). 

 Erodius albus (Linn.), Macgill. Man. Brit. B. ii. p. 134 (1842). 

 Egretta nigrirostris (Gray), apud Macgill. Hist. Brit. B. iv. p. 460 (1852). 



As long ago as 1676 the occurrence of the Great White Egret in this 

 country was known to Willughby and Ray, who were indebted for the 

 information to their correspondent, Mr. Ralph Johnson, a Yorkshireman 

 " of singular skill in zoology, especially the history of birds." This species 

 is only an accidental straggler to the British Islands ; but about twenty 

 instances of its occurrence have been recorded, principally in the eastern 

 counties of England and Scotland. It is not known to have occurred in 

 Ireland or Wales ; but has been met with on the west coast of England, in 

 Cornwall, Devonshire, and Cumberland. The latest record is that of an 

 example which was said to have been seen near Penzance on the 4th of 

 February, 1866. Very little reliance can be placed upon the accuracy of 

 the identification, and the date is strong evidence against it. There does 

 not appear to be any reliable instance on record of the occurrence of this 

 species in our islands during the last thirty or forty years. 



The Great White Egret is not known to breed regularly in any part of 

 Europe except in South Russia and the valley of the Lower Danube. 

 Homeyer found a single pair breeding with a colony of Common Herons 

 in Silesia, and similar instances doubtless occasionally occur elsewhere. 

 As an accidental straggler it has occurred in every country in Europe, 

 most frequently, of course, in the south. It is not known to have occurred 

 on Iceland or the Faroes ; but it occasionally visits the Azores. It is 

 found in suitable localities throughout Africa, and is said to breed there ; 

 but in South Africa it may have been confused with Ardea intermedia. 

 Eastwards, it is a summer visitor to Asia Minor and Palestine, and breeds 

 throughout Turkestan, South-west Siberia, as far north as lat. 47, Persia, 

 the valley of the Amoor, South-east Mongolia, and Japan. It is a resi- 



