ORDER GRALLiE. 491 



plentiful, that no less than one thousand of these birds are men- 

 tioned in the list of Archbishop Nevill's famous feast. It 

 most usually inhabits the confines of Asia, and is tolerably 

 numerous in Turkey, in some parts of Italy, in the Archi- 

 pelago, in Sardinia, and Sicily. But it is only a bird of pas- 

 sage in the south of France, in Switzerland, and in Ger- 

 many. It nestles in marshes, and lays four or five white eggs. 



The Agami Heron is a magnificent bird, whose specific 

 characters are inserted at page 341. It is more than two feet 

 and a half in length ; and inhabits Cayenne and Surinam. 



The Great Egret (Ardea Egretta) is a bird of Europe 

 and the old world, though it has been specially termed the 

 American Egret. The young is the Ardea Alba of Gmelin, 

 and the Heron Blanc of Buffon. 



This species is said to be very common in Asia, in the 

 north of Africa, and in North America ; but M. Temminck 

 assures us that it is the same which inhabits Hungary, 

 Poland, Russia, and Sardinia. Its passage is only accidental 

 in some parts of Germany, and it is not seen in the more 

 western countries. Its food consists of frogs, lizards, small 

 fishes, snails, and aquatic insects. It nestles on trees, and 

 lays four or six eggs, of a pale blue. 



Our figure of the Red-necked Heron is probably from a 

 variety of the Blue Heron of Latham. The head and neck, 

 with the two elongated narrow feathers, are brickdust-colour ; 

 the bill is blue, and the rest of the bird slate-coloured. 



The voice of the Commofi Bittern {Ardea Stellaris), which 

 resembles the bellowing of a bull, and which resounds from 

 the midst of reedy marshes, has acquired for this bird the 

 appellation of Bos Taurus. But it must not be confounded 

 with the Ardea Botaurus of Gmelin, which, according to M. 

 Temminck, is an old male of Ardea Purpurea, above 

 noticed. 



The common bitten is about two feet and a half, or rather 

 more, in length. The female does not differ very sensibly 



