174 ARDEIM5. 



wounded and brought it to me, its wing and thigh-bone having 

 been broken with the shot. When I took it in my hands, it 

 raised up its head in a threatening attitude, erecting its crest, 

 opening its bill and throat extremely wide, and at the same time 

 uttering a loud croak." The bird is in the plumage of the first 

 year, or that of the Gardenian heron (Ardea Gardenii), as repre- 

 sented by Mr. Selby. 



It is stated, in the ' Fauna of Cork/ published in 1845, that 

 " a fine male, with very long white crest, was shot at Castlefreke, 

 a few years since, by the Rev. Joseph Stopford," (p. 12.) As 

 noticed by Mr. Robert J. Montgomery, before the Dublin Nat. 

 Hist. Society : — " A night heron was killed on the 1st of May 

 1848, at Beaulieu, in the county Louth, the seat of the Rev. A. 

 J. Montgomery, by the Rev. Edward Groome, the rector of the 

 parish. It was observed for several days frequenting the reedy 

 margin of a piece of water in the demesne at Beaulieu, and was 

 at first mistaken for a bittern by my cousin, who, knowing I was 

 anxious for a specimen of the latter bird, in vain endeavoured to 

 get a shot at it. When started from the reeds it took refuge in a 

 tree. Mr. Groome shot twice at it before he succeeded in knocking 

 it down, and even then, though severely wounded, it crawled 

 through the weeds, and was with some difficulty captured. I 

 received it the same day. On dissection it proved to be a male. 

 While fresh, the irides were beautiful, of a colour between orange 

 and vermilion — the legs and feet pale lemon yellow, of a particular 

 delicate hue. Mr. Yarrell says they are green ; but in this case 

 they were of the colour mentioned. It measured, from the tip 

 of the beak to the end of the tail twenty-three and a half inches ; 

 from the carpal joint to the end of the wing, twelve inches. The 

 secondaries were spotted as in the Gardenian heron. It wanted the 

 white crest, but was in other respects nearly in adult plumage."' 34 ' 



The night heron is a rare visitant from the south to England, 



and has twice been known to migrate to Scotland — in one of 



which instances a pair were killed, f 



* This bird was briefly noticed in the Zoologist for June 1848, (p. 2147.) 

 f Jardine, British Birds, vol. iii. 152. 



