Birds. 79 



The specimen of the Cassian heron from which the following description 

 is taken, was caught alive on the broads near Ormesby ( near Yar- 

 mouth, Norfolk), in high condition, about the year 1820 or 1821. 

 After having been kept alive for two days, it was killed, the proper 

 mode of feeding it not being known, and the skin was stuffed. The 

 bird was a male, about 16 j inches in length; the bill is 2|- inches 

 long, and shaped like that of the common heron ; for about an inch 

 downwards from the tip it is black, from thence yellow gradually deep- 

 ening into black to the base : the opening of the nostril is long, nar- 

 row and black. The bill opens directly under the eyes, which are 

 yellow : the back of the head is a reddish yellow, beautifully varie- 

 gated with black streaks running down the neck, and becoming fainter 

 till they entirely cease at the back, which is covered with long hair- 

 like reddish yellow feathers, in the same manner as the back of the 

 egret, which give the bird a very elegant appearance. The wings are 

 white, with the exception of the ends of the quill feathers, which are 

 of a light brown colour : from the back of the head grow seven or 

 eight feathers, each between five and six inches long ; these feathers 

 are white fringed with black ; they are rather more than a quarter of 

 an inch in breadth at the base, and taper gradually to the end, the 

 whole forming a very beautiful plume. The chin of this bird is white, 

 and the under parts a faint yellow. The legs are rather short when 

 compared with those of other herons. Excepting this one and a bad 

 specimen in the British Museum, no birds of this kind have ever been 

 found in England. The breast-bone of this bird when taken out was 

 found to be exceedingly small, not bigger than a lark's ; it is now un- 

 fortunately lost. — E. TV. Dowell; Jesus College, Cambridge , February 

 3, 1843. 



Note on the occurrence of Birds lately ascertained to be British. 

 The latest additions to the catalogue of our British birds are the fol- 

 lowing six. 1. Savi's warbler [Sylvia luscinioides, Savi). Two spe- 

 cimens of this warbler, obtained in the fens of Cambridgeshire, are 

 now in the British Museum ; they were noticed by Mr. Geo. R. Gray, 

 in the ^Annals of Natural History,' vi. 155. Joseph Clarke, Esq., of 

 Saffron Walden, has also obtained one or more examples of this spe- 

 cies, which are placed in the Museum at Saffron Walden. 2. Dal- 

 matian Regulus, [Regulus modestus, Gould). A single specimen of 

 this very rare bird was shot near Hartley, on the coast of Northum- 

 berland, by Mr. John Hancock, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, as recorded 

 in the ^Annals of Natural History,' ii. 310. 3. White wagtail, {Mo- 

 tacilla alba, Linn.) Since Mr. Gould published his observations. 



