400 Ardeidce. 



ponds on the estate here ; and that on one occasion a pair tried 

 to build on some high trees near the water, but they disappeared 

 before the nests were completed, and in all probability one or 

 both of them were shot. 



g. Badminton? To the kindness of Mr. Lowndes, of Castle 

 Combe, and to the courtesy of the Duke of Beaufort, I am in- 

 debted for the knowledge of a Heronry which formerly existed at 

 Badminton, in a wood called ' Allengrove,' which, though it 

 adjoins the park, is itself in Wiltshire, for the park fence which 

 divides the park from Allengrove is the boundary between the 

 two counties. Here, in the extreme north-western corner of the 

 county, the Herons used to breed year after year, but the Duke 

 has not known a Heron's nest there now for some years. 



h. Erkstoke. I learn from Mr. G. Watson Taylor that, though 

 Herons have never been known to breed there, some remain all 

 the year round, and roost in Hemming's Wood, in the park, and 

 in the pleasure-grounds, close to the wellhead or pond ; and in 

 the summer nine or ten Herons may often be seen circling above 

 Hemming's Wood. This looks extremely like the produce of 

 two nests which have escaped the notice of the keepers, and I 

 should not be surprised to hear that such a colony was 

 established ; more especially as Erlestoke is too far from Bowood 

 and Longleat to be so constantly visited by birds belonging to 

 either of these distant Heronries. 



i. Estcourt. A few Herons may generally be seen in this park 

 and the adjoining meadows ; and on one occasion, as I am told 

 by Mr. G. Sotheron Estcourt, seven Herons were observed to be 

 staying about the lake for some months. This has a strangely 

 suspicious appearance of a pair of old birds and their five young. 

 Mr. Estcourt also says that Herons are to be found all down the 

 banks of the Avon, in the neighbourhood of Malmsbury and 

 Christian Malford. 



k. Christian Malford. Sir Henry Meux informs me that he 

 often sees Herons at Dauntsey, and that they sometimes roost in 

 the winter in Christian Malford Wood, but that he has never 

 heard of their building there. This is corroborated by the Rev. 



