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that it probably nests in the Nile delta, and he observed it throughout the year on the coasts of 

 the Eed Sea. In July and August he saw large flocks at Massowa ; in the late autumn he 

 observed it on the Somali coast, and in the winter and spring in Abyssinia, where it is found up 

 to an altitude of from 6000 to 9000 feet. In autumn and winter it is met with, usually in 

 immature dress, on the Blue and White Nile up to the month of March. In North-west Africa 

 it is also a common bird. Loche states that it is resident in Algeria, and is found on almost all 

 the lakes, its numbers being much increased during migration ; and in Morocco, according to 

 Favier (Irby, I. c), it is "a summer visitant, and nearly as numerous as the common Heron. 

 They pass north in April, returning in September, many remaining in the country to breed." 

 In West Africa it is recorded from Casamanse and Bissao by Verreaux ; and it also appears to 

 occur in Damara Land ; for Mr. Andersson writes (B. of Damara L. p. 286) as follows : — " I have 

 not unfrequently shot this bird on the rivers Okavango and Teonghe, and at Lake Ngami ; and 

 I believe it also visits Damara Land during the rainy season ; but the specimens which I obtained 

 in the latter country were not preserved, and I am therefore unable positively to identify them." 

 Mr. E. L. Layard records it as being abundant throughout the Cape colony, but he never found 

 it breeding there. It breeds in the Transvaal, where it is common in the open country ; and 

 Mr. Chapman obtained specimens on the Zambesi, where, Dr. Kirk states (Ibis, 1864, p. 332), 

 it is common in all marshy places and near rivers. Messrs. Roche and E. Newton met with it 

 on Madagascar ; and I must not omit to name that it is recorded by Mr. Godman as being found 

 in the central group of the Azores and at Madeira. 



In Asia it has been met with as far east as China ; and, according to Pallas, it occurs as far 

 north in Western Siberia as 55° N. lat. Messrs. Blanford and St. John met with it in suitable 

 localities throughout Persia. Severtzoff states that it breeds in North-western Turkestan ; and, 

 according to Dr. Jerdon, it is " found throughout India and Ceylon, extending into Burmah and 

 Malayana." Mr. Holdsworth states that it is more common in Ceylon than the common Heron, 

 it is very numerous in the south, and breeds near Amblangodde Lake, a few miles from Galle. 

 Lord Walden records it from the Andaman Islands ; and Meyen, who obtained it at Manilla, 

 separated the bird obtained there from our European Purple Heron, on account of its larger 

 size. Professor Schlegel states that in the collection at Leyden there are examples from Java 

 and Borneo ; and Mr. Swinhoe once obtained it from Hankow, in Central China. It is not 

 included in the 'Fauna Japonica;' but Messrs. Finsch and Hartlaub state (Vog. Ost-Afr. p. 676) 

 that it occurs in Japan. 



Though it resembles the common Heron in its general outward appearance, yet in habits 

 the present bird bears much closer affinity to the Bittern than to that species. Unlike the 

 Heron, which frequents large rivers and open places where it can have a clear and uninterrupted 

 view for some distance and can see an intruder approach from afar, the Purple Heron, like the 

 skulking Bittern, affects localities where the water is still, not flowing, and where the banks and 

 shallow parts are covered with a tolerably dense growth of flags and reeds, in which, by con- 

 cealing itself, it trusts to escape the notice of its enemies. It does not, however, inhabit the 

 dense, almost inaccessible reed-forests where the Bittern feels itself so much at home, but is usually 

 met with in places where there are open places between the water-plants, where the water is not 

 too deep, and in marshy places where there is a mixed growth of willow bushes and high grass 



