PURPLE HERON. 263 



tures made of sticks, and lined with twigs and some- 

 times moss. The nests are repaired every year. 



Herons are very early breeders and eggs may be 

 found by the first week in March, but frequently in 

 February ; they are three in number, but sometimes 

 four or five, of a uniform pale bluish green colour. 

 We are said to have a larger number of Heronries in 

 Hampshire than in any other English county except 

 Norfolk. Single nests of these birds are occasionally 

 found, and its nest has also been met with on the 

 ground.* 



The predominating colours of the Heron are slate 

 grey and white ; to these black is added in a lesser 

 degree in various parts. 



Rarer birds of the Family Pelargidce : 

 PURPLE HERON. 



ARDEA PURPUREA. 

 Genus ARDEA. 



An accidental straggler to our shores, chiefly to the 

 southern and eastern counties of England, though it 

 has been obtained in Scotland and Ireland. 



* There is a popular belief amongst country folk that these 

 birds when sitting hang their long legs over the side of the 

 nests. Mr. Young in the Zoologist, 1884, p. 192, states that 

 a man who had every opportunity of seeing for himself, gravely 

 assured him that the birds made holes in the bottoms of the 

 nests through which they put their legs ! 



