GO 



BIRD GALLERY. 



is laboured and slow, but they cau run and climb among the water- 

 plants with surprising ease. They frequently attempt to conceal 

 themselves by assuming an upright position Avith the bill held vertically, 

 and their buff-striped breast turned towards the spectator. In this 

 position they so closely resemble the surrounding reeds that they easily 

 escape detection. The visitor's attention is directed to the Little 

 Bittern (Ar delta minuta) (622) [PI. XIII.], which has been mounted to 

 illustrate this marvellous instinct of self-preservation. Owing to the 

 draining of the extensive reed-swamps the Common Bittern (B. steUaris] 

 (615), formerly one of our regular breeding-birds, is now only a visitor 

 to our shores, and its booming cry, once a familiar sound, is now seldom 

 heard across the fens. 



Passing by the handsome Asiatic Bitterns (Dupetor) (617), the Buff- 

 backed Heron (Bubulcus lucidus] (621), and the Squacco Heron (Ardcola 

 ralloides) (620), we come to the Tiger-Bitterns (626-628), very hand- 

 some birds represented by several genera, and the Green Herons 

 (Butorides) (632-634), which form a connecting link between the 

 Bitterns and Herons. 



A very remarkable type with wide, shoe-shaped bill will be found in 



the Central American Boatbill (Cancroma) (629), a bird of nocturnal 



[Case 34.] habits. On the floor of the next Case several species of the nearly 



allied Night-Herons (Nycticorax] (637-639) are exhibited, of which the 



chestnut-backed species are the most handsome, and the common grey 



species (N. nycticorax] (639) is an almost annual visitor to our shores. 



The Reef Herons (Demiegretta) (645) are noteworthy as possessing 



two phases of plumage a white form and a grey one. The same 



phenomenon is exhibited in the Blue Heron (Florida caerulea) (647) 



and in the Reddish Egret (Dichromanassa rufa) (646), where one form 



of the species is white and the other rufous. One of the most graceful 



and elegant species is the Great White Heron (Herodias alba] (648), 



which ranges over a large part of the Old World. As already stated, it 



is from this species and from the Egrets (Garzetta) in their nuptial 



plumage that the ornamental plumes known as "ospreys" are procured. 



Passing by the handsome Purple Heron (Phoyx purpurea) (650), we 



may specirlly draw attention to the Great Heron (Ardea goliatlt] (651), 



which, as its name implies, is the giant of the group ; and, most familiar 



of all, the Common Heron (A. cinerea) (652). Heronries, as the 



colonies of nests are called, are found in many parts of Great Britain and 



Ireland. After the breeding-season is over, the majority of the birds 



disperse over the country. Many go down to the coasts and remain 



away during the autumn and winter, only returning in spring, but, if 



the season is a mild one, they begin to lay in the beginning of March 



or even earlier. Their appetite is insatiable, and they destroy large 



numbers of fish, fiogs. young water-fowl, and even water-rats. 



