232 



2 



Ad. ptil. Mem. ptilosi sestivali similis sed plumis dorsalibus longissimis nullis, rostro flavo nee nigro. 



Adult Male in summer (Lower Volga) . Entire plumage pure white, the feathers on the hind crown rather 

 elongated, and those on the lower neck also elongated and pointed; from the lower back a large bunch 

 of filiform hair-like plumes extends beyond the tail; bill black; bare space round the eye greenish 

 yellow ; iris yellow ; legs dark brown, the bare tibia paler. Total length about 40 inches, gape 6 - 4, 

 wing 16'3, tail 6'6, tarsus 7'2, bare tibia 4'0, middle toe with claw 4"3. 



Adult Female. Resembles the male, but is a trifle smaller in size. 



Adult in winter (Butrinto) . Differs from the adult in summer in having the bill yellow, and in lacking the 

 long hair-like plumes on the back. 



Young. Resembles the adult in winter, but has the legs paler and of a yellowish tinge, and the bill is much 

 paler yellow. 



This, the largest of our White Herons, inhabits South-eastern Europe, Western Asia, and North 

 Africa, a smaller form, which I cannot consider specifically distinct, being found in South Africa, 

 India, Eastern Asia, and the Malay archipelago down to Australia. In America it is replaced by 

 a nearly allied, but perfectly distinct, species, Ardea egretta, which is smaller in size, and has 

 the bill yellow at all seasons of the year. 



The Great White Heron has been obtained on several occasions in Great Britain at different 

 seasons of the year. Mr. Harting (Handb. Brit. B. p. 147) enumerates sixteen instances of its 

 occurrence ; but several of them are open to doubt, as the birds were only seen and not obtained. 

 Willughby appears to have been the first to record it as a British species ; and Latham and 

 Montagu cite its occurrence in Cumberland and Devon ; Yarrell states that one was shot on the 

 Isis, Oxfordshire, in September 1833 ; and Mr. Strickland writes that one was killed on Hornsea 

 Mere, Yorkshire, in the winter of 1821, and presented to him some years after; another was 

 shot near Beverley, Yorkshire, about 1835 or 1836, and passed into the possession of Mr. James 

 Hall, of Scarborough, near that town ; and one is in the collection of Mr. Eoljambe, of Osberton, 

 labelled as having been obtained near there. It is said to have occurred in Norfolk ; and 

 Mr. J. H. Gurney purchased a specimen of the late Mr. Thurtell, of Eaton, which is said to have 

 been killed in that county. Messrs. Sheppard and Whitear state that they saw one on the banks 

 of the Stour, in Suffolk, in October 1823 or 1824, and that one was observed on the Oakley 

 shores in the spring, and one subsequently on the banks of the Orwell. One is said to have 

 been seen on Romney Marsh, Kent, and one near Penzance in February 1866 ; one in the 

 collection of Dr. Strong, of Peterborough, is said to have been obtained in Thorney Fen, 

 Cambridgeshire, in June 1849; and Robson (Zool. 1849, p. 4169) records the occurrence of one 

 at Buttermere, Cumberland. Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun., enumerates (Ramb. Nat. p. 262) six 

 instances of its having been obtained or seen, beyond the sixteen cited by Mr. Harting (several 

 being enumerated above) ; so that it has every claim to be included in the British list. 



There are several records of this Heron having been seen in Scotland ; but these are naturally 

 open to doubt, and, so far as I can ascertain, there is only one undoubted instance of Ardea alba 

 having been obtained there, viz. that of an example in full plumage which was killed in 



