THE PURPLE HERON. 



Ardea purpurea, Linnaeus. 

 Plate 40. 



This handsome species is a rather rare visitor to our islands, some fifty 

 specimens having been recorded at different times, which were mostly immature 

 birds. It has more frequently been taken on the south-eastern coast of England 

 than elsewhere. The Purple Heron is migratory, and frequents during the 

 breeding season those marshy places where there are dense reed-beds, in many 

 parts of Central and Southern Europe, as well as Africa, Asia, and Madagascar. 

 It spends the winter in tropical and Southern Africa. 



The nest is generally placed in thick reed-clumps, often on the bent down and 

 matted stems just above the water, and is built of the dead stalks of the same 

 plant and of sedges. The three to five eggs are the same in colour and texture as 

 the Common Heron's, but are smaller. 



It is very shy and skulking in its habits, and feeds principally on frogs. 



According to Howard Saunders {Mamial of British Birds), " the note is 

 more guttural than that of its congener." 



There is no difference in the colour of the sexes. 



THE GREAT WHITE HERON. 

 Ardea alba, LinniEus. 

 Plate 40. 



Some seven examples of this beautiful Heron have been recorded in Great 

 Britain, five of these having been obtained in England and two in Scotland. In 

 Europe it haunts the marshes and waters of the south-eastern countries, and is 

 also found in Southern Asia, and seemingly in North Africa. 



The nest, placed in reed-thickets or in trees in swampy places, is built of sticks 

 or dead reeds, and contains three or four eggs of a greenish-blue tint. 



The bird is sociable in its habits, and its food is similar to the Common Heron's. 

 According to Lord Lilford, in his work on British Birds, it resembles the latter 

 bird in its general habits, " frequenting the open marshes and the margins of rivers 

 and lakes in quest of food during the day and roosting in high trees." 



The males are a little larger and have more fully developed dorsal plumes than 

 the females, and both sexes are wantonly destroyed in great numbers, on account 

 of these decorations, known as " Ospreys" in the millinery trade. 



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