THF, SQUACCO HERON. 163 



The young and also the old birds in their winter plumage are 

 without the produced feathers on the back. 



THE LITTLE CRESTED HERON (Ardea garzetta). 



This is a small but beautiful species belonging to the east- 

 ern line of the migration of these birds, and has never been 

 found alive in Britain, so that its name should be expunged 

 from the list even of occasional visitants. 



THE BUFF-BACKED HERON (Ardea TUSSata). 



This is also an eastern bird, and though one specimen of it 

 occurred in South Devon in 1805, it is barely admissible into 

 the list of British birds. That specimen was a female, sup- 

 posed to be in the plumage of the first year ; and with the 

 exception of the upper part of the neck in front, and the 

 crown of the head, which were buff-coloured, it was entirely 

 pure white. It was found in October ; but owing to what 

 cause it performed so extensive a migration is not known. 

 It was not found in a marsh or beside water, but in a field, 

 feeding upon insects ; and it was not alarmed at the presence 

 of cattle which were grazing there. 



THE SQUACCO HERON (Ardea ralloides). 



This species has been more frequently met with in England 

 than any of the former, but still not in such numbers, or 

 so regularly, as to entitle it to a place among those birds 

 which may be periodically expected. It is a bird of the old 

 continent, and in some of its characters resembles the bitterns, 

 being shorter in the tarsi and the neck, and having the 

 latter clothed with longer feathers than the other and more 

 characteristic herons, but it is said to nestle on trees like the 

 herons. 



It is a bird of very beautiful plumage. The feathers along 

 the head are dull yellow, margined with black ; the crest, 



M2 



