AEDEA CINEREA. 1129 



met with it on two islets in the Laccadives, and believes that it breeds there. It is recorded as common in 

 the Deccan and in Chota Nagpur, the localities in which Mr. Ball procured it being the Rajmehal hills, Sirguja, 

 Sambalpur, Orissa, Nowagarh, and Karial ; about Calcutta it is not very common, but in Furreedpore it is 

 more plentiful. It is found throughout Northern India, and frequents moderate elevations, as well as the 

 plain country, as Mr. Hume has found it breeding up to 5000 feet elevation. It is veiy common in many 

 places in the north-western district of the peninsula, swarming in Sindh, according to Mr. Hume, and being 

 abundant on the plains of Guzerat, but rare in Rajpootana about Sambhur. Turning to the north-west, we 

 find it in the Punjab and in Cashmir, where Dr. Henderson found it breeding at Srinagar ; beyond the Snowy 

 range it is resident at Kashgaria, having been found there about the Panir Lakes, Yarkand, and Kashgar by 

 Drs. Stoliczka and Scully ; the latter traveller says it was very common during his sojourn in those regions, 

 and though not frequenting the vicinity of Yarkand from April to August, was found in large numbers near 

 Karghalik. Severtzoff found it breeding in Turkestan up to an altitude of 4000 feet ; and Radde found it 

 common in Dauria, breeding in the Aral Islands on the ground ; he likewise met with it on Lake Baikal. 

 Schrenck says it is generally distributed along the Amoor, being most common on its southern portion. 

 Prjevalsky found it tolerably abundant in Dalai-nor and in the Hoang-ho valley ; he also obtained it in Kan-su, 

 but did not see it in Koko-nor ; he says it arrives in S.E. Mongolia at the end of March, and is very common in 

 the Ussuri country. In North China it is, according to Pere David, very plentiful, breeding even in the interior 

 of the city of Pekin. Swinhoe records it from the southern parts, and from Hainan and Formosa. In Japan 

 Messrs. Blakiston and Pryer record it from Tokio and Yezo. It has not been noticed in the Philippines ; 

 but in the Malay archipelago Horsfield met with it in Java, and Salvadori doubtfully includes it in the 

 avifauna of Borneo. Further south still it appears to stray to Australia, where Gould met with it in 1839 in 

 South Australia, and received a skin from New South Wales. 



Returning to the west of Asia and Europe, we find that Mr. Blanford observed it in Persia, Mr. Danford 

 met with it on the Sihoun river in Asia Minor, and Canon Tristram saw it in Palestine. It is found on the 

 Caspian, and in Southern Russia is common. All through Europe it is pretty generally distributed, migrating 

 north in the summer as far as lat. 68° in Norway. In Denmark and in Sweden and Norway it is a summer visitor, 

 and in some parts of Germany is the same, stragglers only being seen during the winter. It is very rare in 

 Finland ; but in Central Russia it is common in some districts, and inhabits both slopes of the Ural mountains. 

 In Belgium, Holland, Great Britain, France, and Spain it is resident, and also in Southern Italy ; but in the 

 northern parts of that country Salvadori says it seldom remains. It is resident in Sardinia and Sicily, and a 

 spring and autumn visitor in Malta. It is common in Portugal, and is very abundant near the Straits of 

 Gibraltar in winter according to Col. Irby, a few remaining about Casa Vieja throughout the year. It is 

 migratory, according to Favier, in Tangier; but many are resident as well. Mr. Tyrwhitt-Drake likewise met 

 with it in Morocco. In Egypt Capt. Shelley says it is found throughout the country, and also in Nubia. 

 Von Heuglin says it is found in small numbers all over North-eastern Africa, but more so in the winter than 

 in the hot season. It extends down the east coast to Zanzibar and Mozambique, and thence to the Cape, 

 where it is abundant and resident. Mr. Buckley met with it on the Limpopo, and Mr. Ayres in Natal. It 

 has also been obtained on the Comoro Islands, Madagascar, and Mauritius. On the western coast of Africa, 

 Mr. Andersson met with it commonly on the sea-shore and occasionally inland at Ondonga ; further north it 

 has been recorded from Angola, Gaboon, Gambia, and the Gold Coast. In the Atlantic isles it is widely 

 distributed but not common. Mr. Godman met with it in Teneriffe and in the Azores, and says it is occasionally 

 seen in Madeira. Dr. Dohrn records it as a straggler during migration to the north in the Cape Verds. 

 It is found in the Outer Hebrides, and also in the Faroes as a straggler. In Greenland it has twice been met 

 with, according to Professor Reinhardt, who contributes an interesting note on the subject of its occurrence in 

 ' The Ibis/ 1861, p. 9, by which it appears that one was seen on the 27th of August, 1765, by the missionary 

 Stach, and that another was found dead in 1856 near Nenortalik. 



Habits. — To most of my English readers it would seem superfluous for me to remark much on the habits 

 of this well-known bird ; but there are many in Ceylon to whom the species is almost unknown, for it is an 

 inhabitant of the wilder districts, and is scarcely so well known as the next bird to be noticed. The Common 

 Heron is found about salt lagoons and forest-begirt tanks not far from the sea-shore ; it isj as in Europe, very 



