50 HERON. 



places; and are seen in vast flocks during their migrations. Shaw 

 saw three flights of them leaving Egypt, passing over Mount 

 Carmel, towards the north east, in the middle of April, each of tliem 

 half a mile in breadth, and they were three hours passing over; they 

 are also observed always to change their abode in this manner,* and 

 to rendezvous in amazing numbers before their departure, when of a 

 sudden they take flight with great silence, and are soon out of sight. 

 At Bagdad, Mr. Ives observed a nest of these, June 13, on the 

 dome of a decayed mosque, and says, that hundreds are to be seen 

 on every house, wall, and tree, qnite tame/f At Persepolis, or 

 Chilmanor, in Persia, the remains of the pillars serve them to build 

 on, every pillar having a nest. J It is said, that they are found in 

 Barbary throughout the year, breeding there, and are esteemed by 

 the Moors; and a few of them appear in spring and autumn, at 

 Gibraltar, on their passage elsewhere into Europe, but do not breed 

 there, though now and then one is seen on the Isthmus, on the sand 

 hills and plashes, in search of frogs, &c. ; how much farther south 

 on the African coast it is met with is not well ascertained, but 

 we have authority for saying it is both in India and China, though 

 perhaps not in great plenty. And Kaempfer asserts, that the Stork is 

 in Japan, and stays in the country all the year;§ but I rather suspect 

 that to be the Great White Heron, if not the Japan White Crane, 

 which we know is there a native. || 



* In the summer of J765, a cloud of Storks passed over Paris, divided into two troops, 

 or bands, the lower within reach of any one, the other much higher, and came from the 

 north west : they stopped for some time to rest themselves, about the Observatory, and 

 other parts, during- which one was taken alive, and several others killed : it was not known 

 from whence they came, and such an event was in France very uncommon. — Guett. Mem. ii. 

 p. xviii. The same happened in the month of June, at Bamberg, in Germany. — Gent. Mag. 

 Sept. 1811, p. 274. 



f Ives, Voy. pp. 299. 307. % Fryer's Travels, 251. § Kcempf. Japan, p. 129. 



|| Ardea alba et major, the White and Common Heron at Japan. — Tkunb. Travels, iv. 

 p. 99. Keempfer talks of two different kinds of Cranes, one the Common, the other as 

 white as snow ; and several kinds of them, the chief the White Heron, and the Grey Heron, 

 both very common ; and one of a bluish colour, almost as big as a Crane. — Kcempf. Jap. 

 p. 129. 



