192 



ARDEIDiE. 



Distribution in the British Islands. — An Occasional Visitor. 

 More than fifty specimens, mostly immature, have been met 

 with, chiefly on tlie south-east coast of Enj>land, more rarely 

 along the south, and seldom eLewhere. It has been recorded 

 two or three times from Scotland, and once from Ireland. 



General Distribution. — The Purple Heron breeds in central 

 and southern Europe, south-western Asia, and Africa, ranging 

 from Holland, France, central Germany, Austria-Hungary, 

 and southern Russia eastwards to. Transcaspia, the Persian 

 Gulf, and possibly Turkestan ; southwards it breeds in 

 northern and southern Africa, and is found throughout that 

 continent as well as in Madagascar. It winters in tropical 

 and south Africa and has occurred in Scandinavia. East- 

 wards in India, Ceylon, and China it is represented by an 

 allied form, A. manillensis. 



Genus EGRETTA Forster, Synop. Cat. Brit. Birds, 1817, 



p. 59. 



Type : E. garzetta (Linn.). 



Egretta alba. Great White Heron. 



Ardea alba Linnwus, Syst. Nat. 1738, p. 114: Sweden. 



Ardea alba Linn. ; B. O. U. List, 1st ed. 1883, p. 108 ; Saunders, 



Manual, 2nd ed. 1899, p. .371. 

 Herodias alba Sharpe, Cat. Birds B. If. xxvi. 1898, p. 90. 



Alba=white. 



Distribution in the British Islands. — A Rare Visitor. About 

 seven examples have been recorded, two in Scotland and tive 

 in England, all in the more eastern counties, from Perthshire 

 southwards to Cambridge. 



General Distribution. — The Great White Heron breeds 

 in south-eastern Europe, southern Asia, and apparently in 

 northern Africa, ranging from the valley of the Danube 

 and southern Russia eastwards across Asia to north India 

 and Burma. In winter it leaves its more northern haunts 

 and visits the whole of Africa and Madagascar ; also the 



