546 



LITTLE EGRET HERON. 



This curious bird is two feet in length : the 

 whole of its plumage is of a pure white : with a 

 strong crest composed of disunited feathers on the 

 occiput, a tuft of similar feathers at the base of 

 the neck, and many long ones on the top of the 

 back, with slender shafts, twisted and bent down 

 towards their tips ; these feathers are six or eight 

 inches in length, and have slender, silky, wedge- 

 shaped webs : the beak is black : the naked space 

 round the eyes greenish : the irides of a bright 

 yellow : the legs dusky green : the toes of a yellow- 

 green. The young and the old in the moulting 

 season want the long, slender feathers on the head, 

 the base of the neck, and on the back j and the 

 yearlings are dull white, witli the beak, the naked 

 skin round the eyes, and the feet, black. 



This elegant species is very abundant in the 

 southern parts of Europe, especially in Turkey, 

 the Archipelago, and Sicily : it sometimes migrates 

 into France and Switzerland, but rarely into Ger- 

 many. It is stated to have been extremely common 

 in England in former times, and that Archbishop 

 Nevil had one thousand served up at his famous 

 feast. It is now extinct with us ; the last specimen 

 on record was one shot in the isle of Anglesea, 

 mentioned in the British Zoology. In Asia it is 

 very numerous, and it also occurs in Africa, and 

 the temperate and warmer parts of America. It 

 frequents marshes and rivers, feeding upon fish^ 

 &c. : it lays four or five white eggs. 



