Occasional 
visitant. 
Food. 
Nest. 
General 
descrip- 
tion. 
26 GRALLATORES. ARDEA. Heron. 
As several well authenticated instances of the capture of 
this species of Heron have occurred in England, I have not 
the same hesitation in giving it a place in the list of British 
Birds, as an occasional visitant, that I have expressed with 
regard to the two preceding species. In addition to the spe- 
cimen shot at Boyton in 1797, of which a drawing was pre- 
sented to the Linnean Society by Mr Lamserr, as recorded 
in the minutes of the $d volume of their Transactions, an- 
other was killed in Cambridgeshire about twelve years ago, 
which, from a drawing sent to me, appears to have been a 
fme adult bird, in perfect plumage; and a third, a female 
(of which I likewise obtained a correct drawing, of the na- 
tural size), was shot in the summer of 1825, near Bridge- 
water in Somersetshire *. The short neck of this species (as 
well as of Ardea Agami, Ardea speciosa, &c.) clothed with 
lax and longer feathers than the more typical Herons, and 
the decreasing length of the tarsus, indicate an approach to 
the succeeding group of Bitterns, which, in accordance with 
the views of the first ornithologists of the day, I consider en- 
titled to a generic distinction. ‘The economy of this species 
is similar to that of the other members of the family, inha- 
biting marshes, and the margins of seas, lakes, and rivers, 
and subsisting on small fish, reptiles, crustaceous animals, 
and insects. It is found in all the three divisions of the old 
world. In Europe, its distribution extends to most of the 
southern districts, but in the northern it is very rare or quite 
unknown. Upon the confines of Asia it is abundant, and 
(according to the report of travellers) equally so in Egypt, 
Nubia, and other parts of Africa. It builds in trees; but 
the number, size, and colour of its eggs, are yet unknown. 
Prate VI. Represents a mature bird, of the natural size. 
The forehead, crown, and occiput, are of a sienna-yellow 
* Since writing the above, I have been informed that two of these birds 
were killed near to Yarmouth, in the month of May 1831. 
