SQUACCO HERON. 



491 



hundred specimens. It must therefore be rare, if not a mistake in de- 

 scribing the grey wag-tail for this. If no other mark of distinction were 

 to be found but the length and straitness of the hind claw in this, it 

 would be sufficient to know it from the grey wagtail, which is very 

 short and crooked. The tail of this bird is also an inch shorter, and 

 has only two feathers on each side, partly white. The under parts of 

 the male are of a much fuller yellow, and the upper parts never possess 

 any of the cinereous colour. 



The Spring Wagtail visits us about the time the other departs, and 

 migrates again in September. It frequents arable land, especially in 

 the more champaign parts ; sometimes uncultivated ground interspersed 

 with furze ; it is also partial to bean fields ; in all such places it breeds, 

 and does not seem to regard water so much as either of the other species. 

 The nest is always placed on the ground, composed of dried stalks and 

 fibres, lined with hair. The eggs are four or five in number, not very 

 unlike those of the sedge bird, of a pale brown, sprinkled all over 

 with a darker shade, in some very obscurely, weighing about twenty- 

 seven grains. It has all the actions and notes of the other species ; the 

 cry is more shrill than the white, and less so than the grey wagtail, but 

 it does not seem to have much of a song. It is said to be found in Sibe- 

 ria and Russia in summer, and to continue in France the whole year. 



SQUACCO HERON (Ardea Ealloides, Scopoli.) 



*Ardea Ralloides, Scopoli, Amer. 1. No. 12 — Ardea comata, Pallas, Rets, 2. p. 715. 



sp. 3 1.— Gmel. Syst. 1. p. 632. sp. 41 Lath. Ind. Orn. 2 .p. 687. sp. 39 — Ardea 



Squaiotta et castanea. — Gmel. Syst. 1. p. 634. 5. sp. 46. 47. — Lath. Ind. Orn. 

 2. p. 686. and 687. sp. 36. and 40. — Ardea Audax, La Peyrouse, Neue. 

 Schwed, abh. 3. p. 106. — Le Crabier de mahou et crabier caiot, Buff. Ois. 7. 

 p. 393. and 398.— Ib. pi. Enl. 348.— Le Crabier Gentil, Gerard. Tab. elem. 2. 

 p. 137. No. 8. — Squacco Heron, and Castaneous Heron, Lath. Syn. 5. p. 72. 

 and 75 — Rallen Reiher, Bechst. Naturg. Deut 4. p. 47. — Meyer, Tasschenb. 

 Deut. 2. p. 341. — Sgarza Ciufetto, Star. degl. ucc. 4. p. 419. and 420. — Naum. 

 Vog. Nacht. 22. f. 44 Temm. Man. d'Orn. p. 582. 



YOUNG. 



Ardea Erythropus, Gmel. Syst. 1. p. 634. sp. 88 Lath. Ind. Orn. 2. p. 686. sp. 



38. — Ardea Comatea, Simillima, Iter. Possegan, p. 24 — Ardea Marsigli et 

 Pumila, Nov. Com. Petr. 14. p. 502. t. 14. f. 1.— Gmel. Syst. 1. p. 637. and 



644.— Lath. Ind. Orn. 2. p. 681. and 683. sp. 20. and 28 Le petit Butor, 



Briss. Orn. 5. p. 542. — Buff. Ois. 7. p. 524. — Swabian Bittern, and Dwarf 

 Heron, Lath. Syn. 3. p. 60. and 77.— Naum. Vog. Nachtr. t. 22. f. 45.— 

 Freckled Heron, Mont. Orn. Diet.* 



The length of this species is about sixteen inches : bill of a livid 

 red colour, with a brown tip ; lore greenish ; irides yellow ; crown 

 of the head much crested; six of the feathers hanging quite down 

 to the back, these are narrow, and white margined with black ; the 

 neck and breast pale ferruginous, the feathers on the first very long and 

 loose ; back ferruginous, inclining to violet, and furnished with long 

 narrow feathers, which reach beyond the wings when closed, and fall 



