HEEODIAS. 



237 



cries and screams of these huge birds, as they circled in the air and 

 re-circled and dashed round our heads, combined with the splendid 

 sight they themselves presented, filling the air and lining the trees 

 in long rows on the topmost branches, united to form such a scene 

 as can only be witnessed at these great breeding colonies, scattered 

 about, few and far between, in the wildest parts of our island." 



Mr. Gates writes from Pegu : — " The Sittang river at a place 

 near Myitkyo takes a sudden turn to the west for five miles and 

 then turns again to the east for the same distance, thus forming a 

 peninsula about 5 miles long and 2 miles broad. Ttie whole of 

 this area is one vast dismal swamp, the chief feature of which is a 

 gigantic reed called Kyu by the Burmese. This swamp in the 

 rains becomes the resort of myriads of birds. It is possible to enter 

 the swamp only during the highest floods, for otherwise the reeds 

 offer too great a resistance to a canoe, and at the best the progress 

 by poling is not more than 200 or 300 yards an hour. What 

 wonders the interior of the swamp could reveal I cannot say, for I 

 have ne\er been able to penetrate it more than half a mile. 



" The numbers of nests of all sorts met with is marvellous. In 

 pushing along the young fall, and eggs roll, into the canoe, and in 

 some parts there must be a nest either of a Heron, Bittern, or Cor- 

 morant on every square yard of reeds. Three nests frequently 

 touch each other. 



" The most numerous species is perhaps the Purple Heron. It 

 constructs a nest of sticks and the broken branches of the reeds 

 about a foot in diameter and eight inches deep, nearly flat at top, 

 and lays four or five eggs. The nest is placed about four feet 

 above the v\ ater, resting on three or four reed-stems which they or 

 the wind have bent towards one point. I took eggs on the 

 7th July and 1st August, but cannot state the extreme limits of 

 the breeding-season." 



The eggs of this species closely resemble those of the Common 

 Heron, but taken as a body they are considerably smaller, more 

 pointed, and paler-coloured than those of that species. With 

 these exceptions every description of the latter applies equally to 

 the eggs of A. purpurea, and individual eggs of each species may 

 be selected that are altogether undistinguishahle. 



The eggs vary in length from 1'95 to 2-46, and in breadth from 

 1-42 to 1-75 ; but the average of twenty-one is 2-17 by 1-56. 



Herodias alba (Linn.). The Large White Egret. 



Herodias alba (Linn.), Jerd. B. Lnd. ii, p. 744. 



Ardea egretta, Gm., Hume, Roui/h Draft N. Sf E. no. 925. 



The Large White Egret breeds pretty well all over the country, 

 but is in most places numerically scarce as conjpared with the two 

 other White Egrets. 



I have only found its eggs in Upper India in July and August, 

 but I believe that in Southern India, like many other species, it 

 breeds in December. 



