GEEAT WHITE HEKON 19 



BEAK. Yellow. 



FEET. Greenish-yellow ; toes, very long. 



IRIDES. Yellow. 



AVERAGE MEASUREMENTS. 



TOTAL LENGTH ... ... 33 in. Female smaller. 



WING 14*25 



BEAK 6 



TARSO-METATARSUS ... 5'4 



EGG ... 2-2 X 1'15 in. 



Allied Species and Representative Forms. A. manillensis, 

 with no stripes on the fore-neck, is the Eastern representative. 



GREAT WHITE HERON. Ardea alba (Linnaeus). 



Coloured Figures. Gould, ' Birds of Great Britain,' vol. iv, pi. 

 22 ; Dresser, < Birds of Europe,' vol. vi, pi. 398 ; Lilford, 

 * Coloured Figures,' vol. vii, pi. 6. 



Many of the notices regarding the occurrences of the 

 Great White Heron in our Isles are unsubstantiated, more- 

 over this species seems to have been confounded on several 

 occasions with the Spoonbill. 



In the ' Transactions ' of the Norfolk Natural History 

 Society, v, p. 186, Mr. J. H. Gurney has shown that there 

 are but five well-authenticated British specimens on record. 

 These are : Two taken in Yorkshire; viz., one from Horn- 

 sea Mere in the winter of 1821, the other from Beverley, in 

 1835 (Strickland). The former is preserved in the York 

 Museum. 



The third specimen was procured at Tyninghame, Firth 

 of Forth, in June, 1840 (Turnbull, ' Birds of East Lothian,' 

 p. 42). This specimen is preserved in the collection of the 

 Earl of Haddington. 



The fourth was obtained on Thorney Fen, Cambridge- 

 shire, in June, 1849 ; it is preserved in the collection of 

 Colonel Strong, Thorpe Hall, Peterborough. 



The fifth, a comparatively recent example, came from 

 Loch Katrine, Perthshire, in May, 1881. (Journ. Koy. 

 Phys. Soc. Edin. ix. p. 568.) It is preserved in the Edin- 

 burgh Museum. 



