ARDEID^. 179 



Order HERODIONES. 



Family ARDEID^. 



THE HERONS. 



We have eleven representatives of the Heron family on 

 the British list, but, of the whole number, only two are 

 to be considered as indigenous birds — the Common Heron, 

 still numerous in suitable localities, and the Common 

 Bittern, once a resident, but now only seen in severe 

 winters as a frozen-out migrant. All the others are only 

 accidental stragglers, some of them South-European 

 species, such as the Purple Heron, the Little Egret, the 

 Buff-backed and the Squacco Heron, the Little Bittern, and 

 the Night-Heron; wliile there are two others which have 

 reached us from America, coming perhaps via Northern 

 Asia and Europe, namely the American Bittern and the 

 Green Heron, the last having only once been obtained on 

 the West Cornish coast, its iirst recorded appearance any- 

 where in Europe. All these birds are denizens of dense 

 sedge-covered swamps and morasses, where they nest, 

 some of them on the ground, others on trees growing 

 in the bogs ; they are all more or less nocturnal in their 

 habits, feeding on frogs, fish, worms, &c. ; some arc ex- 

 tremely beautiful, being adorned with dorsal and breast 

 plumes and crests ; but their appearance in tliis country 

 is exceptional, and some of the recorded instances may 

 either have been escapes of imported birds, or they may 

 have reached our sliores through an assisted passage, 

 having alighted when weary on the rigging of ships 

 and so have been curried into our latitudes. With the 



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