490 BRITISH BIRDS. 



our heads, but we had no difficulty in shooting a Squacco Heron and a 

 Pigmy Cormorant, and might have obtained any number had we required 

 them. Although it was the 12th of June, all the eggs of the Common 

 Heron, nearly all those of the Squacco Heron, and many of those of the 

 Pigmy Cormorant were quite fresh. The Night-Heron was the closest 

 sitter (but the reason may have been that its eggs were the most incu- 

 bated), and of the five species this was the only one which had any young. 

 The nests of the Squacco Heron were built on the same model as those of 

 the Little Egret and Night-Heron, the twigs of which they were composed 

 being arranged from the centre, thus forming radii, whilst those of the 

 Common Heron and the Pigmy Cormorant were arranged, as usual, round 

 the centre, forming arcs. The Squacco Heron builds a very slight nest, 

 somewhat deep, though the sides permit the eggs to be seen through the 

 sticks, the more solid part of the nest not exceeding six inches across. It 

 is impossible to describe the interest of such a scene. In these flooded 

 forests there is scarcely any current, and the water was quite warm and 

 discoloured by the droppings of the birds, whilst the smell was similar to 

 that of a guano warehouse. The sun was burning hot, and not a breath 

 of air penetrated the thicket. By the time we had explored the colony 

 many thousand birds must have been upon the wing, flying wildly round 

 and round and backwards and forwards, in the greatest excitement, every 

 now and then perching on the willow trees, and incessantly uttering their 

 loud discordant cries. We had some little difficulty in identifying the 

 eggs of the Night-Heron and the Little Egret. Concerning those of the 

 Common Heron, the Squacco Heron, and the Pigmy Cormorant, there 

 can be no manner of doubt; but after watching a Night- Heron rise from 

 its nest we often found on reaching the spot that two or three other nests 

 were so close to it that it was impossible to say which was the one that 

 belonged to the bird we had watched. The excitement of the birds lasted 

 long after we had left their colony, and had not subsided when we lost 

 sight of it. 



In North Africa the Squacco Heron is said always to nest on the ground 

 amongst the sedges, probably in consequence of the absence of trees ; but 

 in the valley of the Danube it is not known to breed anywhere except in 

 trees. The eggs of the Squacco Heron are from four to six in number, 

 and are greenish blue in colour; they vary in length from T6 to T5 inch, 

 and in breadth from 1'2 to 1*06 inch. They cannot be confused with 

 the eggs of any of the other European Herons. Only one brood is reared 

 in the year. 



The Squacco Heron is, if possible, even a more beautiful bird than the 

 Little Egret. It is pure white, with the exception of the feathers of the 

 back, neck, and upper breast, which are buff, suffused with pale russet- 

 brown on the back, each feather of the forehead, crown, and nape margined 



