ARDEID^. 183 



Purple Heron, Ardea imrimrea, Linn. 



[The African Heron of Montagu.] 



An accidental visitor of very rare occurrence. 



A more showy looking bird than the Common Heron from its bright 

 maroon-red breast, which gives it its English name, the Purple Heron is 

 a bird of Southern Europe, and is only an occasional straggler to the north, 

 of the Continent, and, as such, is no more than a very rare accidental 

 visitor to the Eritish Islands. Although in appearance closely resembling 

 the Common Heron, than which it is, however, a trifle smaller, this Heron 

 in its habits comes nearer to the Bittern. Like that bird it delights in 

 skulking in deep sedges, and may thus be moreeasil}" approached, flushed, 

 and shot than the Common Heron, which generally feeds on some open 

 level where it can at any moment descry an approaching enemy. The 

 Common Heron, as is well known, places its nest in trees, and sometimes 

 on the ledges of cliffs, whereas the Purjde Heron nests upon the ground. 

 " When resting and dozing during the daytime it sits in a most peculiar 

 position, in which it may be compared to an eld pointed brown post 

 sticking in the ground. It sits mainly on its hinder quarters, resting on 

 these and the hinder part of the tarsus (not on the foot) ; and the body 

 and neck are stuck in an almost upright position " (Dresser, ' Birds of 

 Europe,' vi. p. 222). The full plumage is not assumed until the bird is 

 thi'ee years old. 



Three or four specimens, all in immature plumage, are reported to have 

 been obtained, and two others seen, in South-western Devon. Three of 

 them are mentioned by Dr. Edward Moore. One of them was seen on the 

 Plym in April 1824 by Mr. T. E. Gosling, of Leigham, and another by 

 several persons near Flete, on the Erme, the residence of the Bulteels, in 

 Decem1)cr 183(5. It is natural to surmise tliatbotli these birds might have 

 been Common Herons. The third was shot near Aveton Gilford, and was 

 sold at theliov. Kerr Vaughan's sale in ]\Iarch 1847, and is now in the posses- 

 sion of M rs. Elliot of Trcsillian House, Ivingsbridge, havingbeen purchased by 

 her husband the late Mr. J. Elliot. This specimen was forwarded to 

 Bewick, and figured by him (E. ^I., Trans. Plym. Inst. 1830 ; !Mag. Xat. 

 Hist. ]8::;7 ; Howe's Peramb. Dartmoor, 1848 ; E. A. S. E., MS. Notes). 

 The Itev. Thomas Johnes mentions that in January 1832 a waggoner, 

 passing over Whitclmrch Down, saw a large bird rise from the roadside 

 close to him. He struck it down with his whip, and it was ])resented to 

 Mr. Johnes by Mr. C. Willesford,of Tavistock. The bird proved to belong 

 to tliis s])ecies, and was evidently exhausted by fatigue and hunger (T. J., 

 Bray's ' Tamar and Tavy,' vol. i. p. 'd'i'.S). 



Mr. IMumtre ^Methuen informed Mr. Yarrell that he had obtained o speci- 

 men shot near Plymouth in Eebruary 1830 (Yarrell, B. Birds, 2nd ed. ii. 



'i'hc last, and l)est authenticated, occurrence is that recorded by Mr. 

 Gat combe, who purchased a specimen he saw hanging up in a poulterer's 



