COMMON HERON. PURPLE HERON. EGRET. 133 



the disposal of the 400 heronshaws, which records inform us 

 were placed upon the tables. Protected at that time by strin- 

 gent laws, the person who destroyed their eggs was visited 

 with a fine of twenty shillings, or a penalty was enforced often 

 shillings if detected handling a young bird in the nest ; whilst 

 to kill the bird itself was forbidden under a penalty of one 

 month's imprisonment. 



Differing in an unusual manner from almost all the birds 

 comprised in the order to which it belongs, the heron selects 

 a tree for the breeding place, an arrangement which, from 

 its length of legs and bulky form, appears eminently ridi- 

 culous. Breeding like rooks in communities, the possession 

 of a heronry is an ornament much coveted by the owner of 

 the ancestral wood they frequent. 



Although generally difficult of approach, and distrustful 

 in their habits, we observe them in the breeding season select 

 the unusual vicinity of inhabited buildings, as at Malahide 

 Castle, county of Dublin, where their nests are placed almost 

 within bowshot of the walls. 



Indigenous. 



SPECIES 123 THE PURPLE HERON. 



Ardea purpurea. Linn. 

 Heron pourpre. Temm. 



THIS rare heron has occurred in a single instance, which came 

 under the observation of Mr. Richard Glennon in a recent 

 state, being obtained somewhere in the neighbourhood of 

 Carrickmacross. At one time amongst the rarities of Mr. 

 Harrington's celebrated collection, it now graces that of Mr. 

 Warren. 



Rather thinly scattered over Europe, it occasionally appears 

 in great numbers in France during its passage north, so much 

 so, that on one occasion numbers were captured at Lille, 

 having dropped from over-fatigue near the Hall of Justice, 

 and the fosses of the fortifications.* 



Habitat Northern Africa. 



SPECIES 124 THE EGRET. 



Ardea garsetta. Linn. 

 Heron garsette. Temm. 



THE EGRET, another heron, alike remarkable for rarity and 

 beauty, has only occurred in some five or six instances in 



* Ornithologie Europeenne. 



