]50 ARDEID.E. 



GRALLATORES. ARBEIDM. 



PLATE CLXVII. 



SQUACCO HERON. 



ARDEA RALLOIDES. 



The Squacco Heron has been captured and killed in 

 Britain in several instances, according to the statement of 

 various ornithologists, although the species belongs to warmer 

 climes. Its chief residence is Asia and Africa; in the 

 vicinity of the Caspian and Black Sea, Persia, Syria, and 

 Arabia ; in Africa, throughout Egypt and Nubia ; and in the 

 south of Europe, such as Turkey, Greece, Italy, and Sicily, 

 the south of France and Spain. Now and then the Squacco 

 Heron visits Switzerland, Silesia, central Germany, and 

 Holland, but not further north. The usual periods of migra- 

 tion of the present species are April and September ; during 

 which time the birds are seen in tolerable numbers travelling 

 together, although they frequently migrate in pairs. 



The chosen locality of the Squacco Heron is in broken 

 swampy ground, along the borders of lakes, rivers, and ponds, 

 where it can meet with aquatic plants and osier stumps, &c, 

 but not where the rushes and flags are formed into extensive 

 plantations, or, as it is called, " beds. 1 ' This species is not 

 entirely attached to cover of any sort, for it may not unfre- 

 quently be seen during the day to stalk about in great 

 numbers on the banks of the rivers and lakes in Hungary, in 

 company with hundreds of other waders, in search of food for 



