162 



composed entirely of sticks, finer towards the inside, or lined 

 with species of dry sedge and rushes. The eggs are com- 

 monly four, rarely five in number, and differ considerably in 

 size and shape, as well as in colour." We may add, how- 

 ever, that the colour is pale-green in general, like that of 

 the Common Heron. (PL XIV. fig. 91.) 



THE GREAT WHITE EGRET, OR GREAT WHITE HERON. 

 Ardea alba. "The Egrets," says Sir W. Jar dine, "are dis- 

 tinguished by a more slender form in every part, by the 

 plumes on the back being very long and disunited, and in 

 the plumage being generally pure white, and always pale at 

 one period, either in the complete or incomplete plumage. 

 The present species is of rare occurrence in this country, and 

 is described as being nowhere abundant in northern or cen- 

 tral Europe, but as becoming more frequent in the Grecian 

 Archipelago, in Turkey, and on the Asiatic boundary. The 

 American Large White Heron is pronounced by the author 

 recently quoted, to be distinct from the British bird, but re- 

 ferred to as representing it in the New World. The eggs 

 of the American bird, if not the same with those of the 

 species we treat of, yet, doubtless, closely resemble them ; 

 they are of the pale green common among the Herons, and 

 are never more than three in number. If the birds are 



