60 



BIRD GALLERY. 



is laboured and slow, but they cau run and climb among the water- 

 plants with surprising qase. They frequently: attempt to conceal 

 themselves by assuming an upright position with the bill held \-erticallyj 

 and their buff-striped breast turned towards the spectator. In this 

 position they so closely resemble the surrounding reeds that they easily 

 escape detection. The visitor's attention is directed to the Little 

 Bittern {Ardetta minuta) (622) [PL XIII.], which has been mounted to 

 illustrate this marvellous instinct of self-preservation. Owing to the 

 draining of the extensive reed-swamps the Common Bittern {B. stellaris) 

 (615), formerly one of our regular breeding-birds, is now only a visitor 

 to our shores, and its booming cry, once a familiar sound, is now seldom 

 heard across the fens. 



Passing by the handsome Asiatic Bitterns {Diqjetor) (617), the Buff- 

 backed Heron {Bubulcus lucidiis) (621), and the Squacco Heron [Ardeola 

 ralloides) (620), we come to the Tiger-Bitterns (626-628), very hand- 

 , ' some birds represented by several genera, and the Green Herons 

 (Butorides) (632-634), which form a connecting link between the 

 Bitterns and Herons. 



A very remarkable type with wide, shoe-shaped bill will be found in 

 the Central American Boatbill (Cancroma) (629), a bird of nocturnal 

 [Case 34.] habits. Ou the floor of the next Case several species of the nearly 

 allied Night-Herons {Nycticorax) (637-639) are exhibited, of which the 

 dhestnut-backed species are the most handsome, and the common grey 

 species (/V. nycticorax) (639) is an almost annual visitor to our shores. 

 The Reef Herons [Demiegrettd) (645) are noteworthy as possessing 

 two phases of plumage — a white form and a grey one. The same 

 phenomenon is exhibited in the Blue Hei'ou [Florida cceridea) (647) 

 and in the Reddish Egret [Dichromanassa rufa) (646), where one form 

 of the species is white and the other rufous. One of the most graceful 

 and elegant species is the Great White Heron [Herodias alba) (648), 

 which ranges over a large part of the Old World. As already stated, it 

 is from this species and frorn the, Egrets [Garzetta) in their nuptial 

 plumage that the oi'namenfal plumes known as " ospreys " are procured. 



Passing by the handsome Purple Heron [Phoyx purpurea) (650), we 

 may specially draw attention to the Great Heron [Ardea goliatli) (651), 

 which, as its name implies, is the giant of the group ; and, most familiar 

 of ail, the Common Heron [A. cinerea) (652). Heronries, as the 

 colonies of nests are called, are found in many parts of Great Britain and 

 Ireland. After the breeding-season is over, the majority of the birds 

 disperse over the country. Many go down to the coasts^ and remain 

 away during the autumn and winter, only returning in spring, but, if 

 the season is a mild one, they begin to lay in the beginning of March 

 ■ or even carlieri Their appetite is insatiable, and they destroy large 



numbers of fish, ftogs. young water-fowl, and even water-iats. 



