PURPLE HERON. 515 



Pennant and Montagu so many instances have been re- 

 corded of the occurrence of this bird, in different states 

 of plumage, in this country, on the southern coast by Dr. 

 Edward Moore of Plymouth, and of other examples on our 

 eastern coast by Mr. Selby and Mr. Hoy, that no doubt 

 can remain of the propriety of including it in a History of 

 British Birds. Mr. Couch, of Polperro, sent Bewick a 

 drawing taken from a specimen which alighted on a fishing- 

 boat two or three leagues from the coast of Cornwall. The 

 bird was caught and brought on shore alive, but soon died. 

 Dr. Edward Moore notices two examples, both young 

 birds, in Devonshire ; and in February 1839, Plumptre 

 Methuen, Esq., sent me word that he had obtained a speci- 

 men shot near Plymouth. Mr. Selby, who published in 183.3, 

 says, "I may mention that in the month of May 1830, 

 a fine male Purple Heron, that was killed in Norfolk, came 

 into my possession, and its mate into that of Sir William 

 Jardine ;" and in a note, adds, " since writing the above, 

 I have heard of three other specimens, two killed in 

 Norfolk, and another near to London/ 1 Mr. Hoy, in the 

 Magazine of Natural History for 1837, vol. x. p. 116, says, 

 " some time in the month of November 1835, a Purple- 

 crested Heron was obtained on the borders of a large piece 

 of water, known by the name of King's Fleet, near the 

 mouth of the Woodbridge river, in Suffolk. The bird rose 

 from the thick reeds which skirt the water, and was at first 

 supposed to have been a Bittern by the person who shot it. 

 This bird was in the plumage of the first year. From the 

 redness of its colours, at this age, it may be readily mis- 

 taken for the Bittern when first seen. I have known two 

 other instances of this species of Heron occurring in this 

 county ; I have also known two or three individuals to 

 have been met with in Norfolk, within a few years." Mr. 



