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or the various sorts of frogs which are so plentiful. It does not, however, despise locusts, which 

 at certain periods are so numerous as to darken the sun for several hours. In the stomachs of 

 many specimens that we have skinned, we have found large quantities of Tadpoles, which, during 

 the season for them, are found everywhere, even in small pools. Small Lizards are also often 

 seized by these Herons. We have almost invariably seen them singly, except during the breeding- 

 season. At this time the pair, after having chosen a high tree near the water for their nesting- 

 place, work together at the construction of their nest, which is formed of dried rushes, large, and 

 very flat, very carelessly constructed ; and as generally several pairs unite during the season, the 

 result is that their nests touch each other, the one strengthening the other thereby. Sometimes 

 the Platalea tenuirostris, and even Plotus levaillantii, build their nests so close together that they 

 touch, and so carelessly that when on weak branches that bend under the weight, and the wind 

 is high, an egg will now and again during the period of incubation slip out and fall down. Still, 

 even when the young are hatched, the whole mixed colony appear to live in perfect harmony, 

 each pair tending only its own progeny. We also observed that when these resorts were not 

 disturbed, each pair returned on the following year to take possession of their old nest, which 

 they repaired with fresh materials, in such a manner, however, as not to increase the bulk. 



" Where trees are wanting, or far distant from the water, .these birds nest in the rushes, 

 always, however, in colonies, in company either with others of their own or of quite different 

 species. In the locality called Verloren Vley (or the Lost Lake), to the east of the Cape, when- 

 ever we were there during the breeding-season we found thousands of nests of more than fifty 

 species of both Waders and Waterfowl, of which the nests were placed so close together that it 

 was impossible to walk there without trampling on either eggs or young ; and here we procured 

 the various specimens, of various ages, of this Heron described in MM. Degland and Gerbe's 

 work, and which are now in the National Museum in Paris." 



From Natal Mr. Ayres forwarded a specimen in 1859, and says, " The contents of the 

 stomach were Lizards, Locusts, a snake about two feet long, and a large Eat — all swallowed 

 whole, and quite fresh. This bird was shot in a marshy valley about a mile from the coast, 

 and is the only one of the kind I have seen." More recently, however, Mr. Ayres has met with 

 the bird in the Transvaal. 



The present species has been well described and figured. We may mention the following 

 as among the principal references relating to its literary history. It was originally described in 

 the Appendix to Denham and Clapperton's 'Travels;' but the author is not mentioned; conse- 

 quently the describer of the species is variously designated as Mr. Children or Mr. Vigors. Nor 

 have we been able to find out who the author really was, the only contemporary notice of the 

 work that we could discover being in the ' Zoological Journal,' where the zoological portion of 

 the work is said to have been done by Messrs. Children and Vigors ; and we have thus quoted 

 them as the joint authors. In 1846 a good figure of the adult was given by Des Murs in his 

 ' Iconographie Ornithologique ;' and in 1849 Sir Andrew Smith figured both old and young birds 

 in the ' Illustrations of the Zoology of South Africa.' 



These latter figures were copied by Eeichenbach. The best general account of the 

 species has been given in the recently published ' Ornithologie Ost-Afrika's ' of Drs. Finsch 

 and Hartlaub. 



