493 BEITISH BIRDS. 



ARDEA BUBULCUS. 

 BUFF-BACKED HERON. 



(Plate 38.) 



Ardea Candida minor, Briss. Orn. t. p. 438 (1760). 



Ardea lucida, Rafineaque-Schmaltz, Caratteri nuovi gen. e sp. Sicilia, p. 5 (1810). 



Ardea sequinoctialis, Zinn. apud Mont. Orn. Diet. Suppl. sheet M (1813). 



Ardea bubulcus, Audouin, Krpl. somm. PI. Ois. de VEgypte, i. p. 298, pi. viii. fig. 1 

 (1825) ; et auctorum plurimorom — Lesson, Miiller, Heine, Schlegel, Heuglin, 

 Gray, Hartlauh, Brehm, Salvadori, Taczanowski, Mnsch, Qurney, Sclater, 

 Dresser, &c. 



Ardea russata, Wagl. Syst. Av. Ardea, no. 12 (1827). 



Ardea verany, Roux, Orn. Pi-ov. pi. 316 (1829). 



Egretta russata ( Wagl.), Swains. Classif. B. ii. p. 354 (1837). 



Erodius russatus ( Wagl.), MaegUl. Man. Brit. B. ii. p. 135 (1842). 



Buphus russatus (Wagl.), Heugl. Syst. Uebers. p. 59 (1856). 



Ardea ruficristata, Verr.fide Bonap. Consp. ii. p. 125 (1857). 



Bubulcus ruficristata ( Verr.), Bonap. Consp. ii. p. 125 (1857). 



Herodias russata ( Wagl.), Salvin, Ibis, 1859, p. 357. 



Herodias bubulcus (And.), Taylor, Ibis, 1860, p. 313. 



The BufF-backed Heron has scarcely any claim to be regarded as a 

 British bird, having only been obtained in this country three times. 

 Montagu (Trans. Linn. Soc. ix. p. 197) records a female shot near Kings- 

 bridge, in Devonshire, in October 1805. Stevenson (' Birds of Norfolk,' ii. 

 p. 151) mentions a young bird shot at Martham, near Yarmouth, in 1827; 

 and Mr. Cleveland ('Zoologist,' 1851, p. 3116) states that an example vras 

 obtained in South Devonshire in April 1851. 



The Buff-backed Heron is an African bird, and is resident throughout 

 that country, breeding in all suitable localities, from Algeria and Egypt 

 in the north to the Cape Colony and Madagascar in the south. It is an 

 accidental visitor to Madeira and to various parts of South Europe. In 

 the Spanish peninsula it is partly a resident and partly a spring migrant. 

 It is not known to breed in any other part of Europe ; but in the east its 

 breeding-range extends into Palestine. It is an accidental straggler to 

 the south of France, Italy, Sicily, Greece, and South Russia, but is not 

 known to have occurred in North Europe*. 



* Nordmann's statement that this species is abundant on the Danube is erroneous, 

 as is also the statement of De Filippi that it is abundant on the shores of the Caspian. 

 In both these localities it is almost as rare as it is in the British Islands, and I have 

 only been able to find one authentic instance of its occurrence in each of them. The 

 Squacco Heron is, no doubt, the bird alluded to in both cases. 



