NIGHT HERON. 281 



States. Whether it extends its range beyond the American con- 

 tinent, except as an occasional straggler in Europe, has not yet 

 been accurately determined. It is naturally of a timid and soli- 

 tary disposition, frequenting marshy ground and willow thickets. 

 It has a curious habit of standing on one foot for hours with its 

 eye fixed on the sun a custom which has earned for it among 

 the inhabitants of Lower Louisiana the name of ' Garde soleil/ 

 Though usually sluggish and inert, when wounded its courage is 

 aroused, and with its neck plumage raised, and the feathers of 

 its body ruffled, it defends itself by means of its powerful beak, 

 with which it strikes furiously at its adversary. When seized, it 

 frequently bites and scratches, inflicting, at times, considerable 

 injury. It booms like the common species, nestles in swamps, 

 and lays four greyish green eggs. Colonel Eraser's specimen is 

 in admirable preservation, and forms an addition of great interest 

 to the fauna of Aberdeenshire." 



After an interval of eight years, a third specimen of the American 

 Bittern was obtained in Caithness, as I have been informed by 

 Dr Smith, secretary to the Eoyal Physical Society of Edinburgh. 

 It was shot at Latheron-wheel by F. S. Bently Innes, Esq., of 

 Thrumster, in the autumn of 1862, and a notice of the occurrence 

 was communicated to that society in April, 1864. 



While this sheet was passing through the press, Mr Harvie 

 Brown has drawn my attention to the following paragraph taken 

 from the Field newspaper of 4th March, 1871: 



" American Bittern in Mid-Lothian. A remarkably fine specimen, 

 killed by John Kinkell, gamekeeper to Charles Cowan, Esq., of 

 Logan House, about ten years ago, near the Compensation Pond 

 in the Pentland Hills, Mid-Lothian, .... still forms one of the 

 most interesting ornaments in Mr Cowan's hall, in a case of rare 

 birds and animals killed on the estate." 



THE NIGHT HERON. 

 NYCTICORAX GARDENI. 



So far as I am aware, this species has occurred but in one instance 

 in the West of Scotland a specimen having been shot many years 

 ago within a mile of Kilmarnock, as I have been informed by Mr 

 Oliver Eaton, bird stuff er in that town. 



