SQUACCO HERON.— JNIGHT HERON. 317 



Mr. Berkeley a stufEed bird ; it was a Squacco Heron, and 

 was shot by my keeper by the Wamham Pond, about two 

 miles from Horsham, on the hottest day of the very hot 

 summer of 1849. In its stomach were fourteen small roach, 

 without their heads, however." A pretty good meal for so 

 small a bird ! Why they were minus their heads I cannot 

 tell, as Herons in general swallow their prey whole. 



NIGHT HERON. 



Nycticorax griseus. 



Like the last, this is a decidedly rare bird with us. I have 

 the following in my own notes: — ^November 1839, a specimen 

 of the Night Heron was shot at Alfriston. I examined it 

 myself and found it immature. The bird is noticed by 

 Mr. Knox, on my authority (O. R. p. 338), who further 

 says, that " since that period another example has occurred 

 near Cuckmere Haven. A male Night Heron was killed 

 near Appledram Sluice, by Sergeant Carter, on Septem- 

 ber 6th, 1851, and is now in the collection of the Bishop of 

 Oxford, at Lavington." This Heron feeds by night on 

 worms, fish, frogs, freshwater insects, and moUusks, and 

 conceals itself in trees during the day; it breeds in colonies. 

 Mr. Dresser (' Birds of Europe/ vol. vi. pp. 266, 267) writes 

 that the flight of the Night Heron is silent and soft, like 

 that of an Owl, the bird drawing in its neck, so that it looks 

 quite short, and carrying its legs stretched out straight 

 behind; that its call-note is seldom uttered in the day- 

 time but at night it is rather noisy than otherwise; and 

 that it climbs about the small branches of trees, and among 

 the close reeds and rushes, with facility ; also that its nest 

 is occasionally placed on low bushes, though generally in a 

 tree, rather flat in shape, built of twigs and thin branches. 



