BIRDS 



was obtained towards the end of October 

 1805, in Devonshire. It was shot by Mr. 

 W. F. Cornish at South Allington in the 

 parish of Chivelstone, near the Start Point. 

 Montagu recorded the specimen as ' the little 

 white heron ' in the Transactions of the Lin- 

 nean Society, and it is also mentioned by him 

 in his Ornithological Dictionary. The specimen 

 still exists in the Natural History Museum at 

 South Kensington. In the Zoologist for 1851 

 (p. 31 16) Mr. Clevland of Tapley Park, 

 Bideford, states that he had received a very 

 fine specimen of the little white heron {A. 

 russata), which had been shot in the south of 

 Devon in the April of that year. Colonel 

 Irby however assured Mr. Howard Saunders 

 that ' the bird came from a well known dealer, 

 and that no reliance can be placed on the date 

 or locality assigned.' 



144. Squacco Heron. Ardea ralloides, Scopoli. 

 An accidental visitor, of occasional occur- 

 rence both in the north and south of the county. 

 A nearly adult specimen was killed by a game- 

 keeper, in the employ of Sir Frederick Rogers, 

 by the side of a large pond close to the house 

 at Blachford near Ivybridge, in June or July 

 1840. Mr. Brooking Rowe mentions one or 

 two having been killed on the Tamar, and 

 there was a specimen in the collection of the 

 late Mr. Marsh-Dunn which he obtained from 

 Bolitho of Plymouth, and which was said to 

 have been shot at Kingsbridge. An adult 

 male was killed on Braunton Marsh 10 June 

 1878. 



145. Night Heron. Nycticorax griseus {hinn.) 

 This beautiful heron has been frequently 



obtained in Devonshire, principally in the 

 southern part, no less than eight (four adult 

 males and four females) having been shot at 

 Flete near Holbeton, and Erme Bridge in 

 May and June 1849. Several examples have 

 been killed in the Kingsbridge district. It 

 has also occurred near Axminster, Exeter and 

 Plymouth, and an adult male was shot on the 

 Taw, two miles above Barnstaple, in May 

 1869, several others being seen there the 

 same summer. An adult male was shot near 

 Countess Wear in June 1897. The last 

 specimen that has occurred was a very fine 

 male with four plumes, shot near Kingsbridge 

 in April 1899. 



146. Little Bittern. Ardetta minuta (Linn.) 

 About twenty examples are recorded as 



having occurred in Devonshire, most of them 

 in the extreme south-western portion of the 

 county and generally in the spring. The 

 neighbourhood of Crediton has produced 



several specimens. A female shot there in 

 May 1808, contained forty eggs, some con- 

 siderably enlarged, and as a male was after- 

 wards shot which had been previously observed 

 near the same place, it is probable the pair 

 would have brought out a brood if they had 

 not been destroyed. The last examples ob- 

 tained were one shot near Newton St. Cyres 

 in April 1901, and another at Hatherleigh, 

 North Devon, at the beginning of April 1903. 

 On several occasions little bitterns, in an 

 exhausted condition, have been captured by 

 hand on the south coast. 



147. Common Bittern. Botaurus stellaris 



(Linn.) 

 A winter visitor of rather irregular appear- 

 ance, coming in flights at long intervals, gene- 

 rally in severe seasons, when numbers are seen. 

 The last great flights were in the winters of 

 1890-1 and in that of 1899-1900. Bitterns 

 are principally met with where beds of tall 

 reeds, known in Devonshire as ' spires,' grow 

 in river estuaries and leys. In most seasons 

 a few examples are obtained in the county, 

 especially in north Devon. One was shot 

 at Monk Okehampton in June 1889; Dr. 

 E. Moore mentions two specimens obtained 

 on the Exe in May ; and the Rev. G. C. 

 Green of Modbury saw one on the Erme on 

 14 April 1887. With these exceptions the 

 bittern has only been met with during the 

 winter months (November to March). 



148. American Bittern. Botaurus lentiginosus 



(Montagu) 

 The Freckled Heron of Montagu. 

 Two examples only of this American species 

 have occurred in Devonshire : one at Mothe- 

 combe near Plymouth 22 December 1829 ; 

 another, a young bird of the year, was shot 

 towards the end of October 1875 by the 

 Rev. Marcus Rickards on some high ground 

 near Parracombe, north Devon. 



149. White Stork. Ciconia alba, Bechstein. 

 A casual visitor of rare occurrence. Dr. 



E. Moore mentions three examples obtained at 

 Slapton Ley between 1820 and 1830. In 

 Morris's British Birds it is stated on the 

 authority of Mr. N. Rowe that one was 

 shot at Topsham on the estuary of the 

 Exe, 28 July 1852. A specimen in the 

 Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter, is said to 

 have been shot near Clyst St. George, prob- 

 ably at the junction of the Clyst with the 

 Exe, a little below Topsham, in January 

 1856. At this spot also, at the beginning 

 of September 1898, a white stork was seen, 

 and on the i8th of the same month one was 



315 



