BIRDS OF DUMFRIESSHIRE 231 
Grierson killed an Egret [in Lochar Moss] ; a bird which 
has become nearly extinct, however common in those days 
when its feathers formed an ornament for royalty itself. 
The Egret altho' the smallest and most beautiful variety of 
the race, is usually classed with the Heron." In answer to 
my inquiries Sir Alexander Grierson wrote that he knew 
nothing at all of the whereabouts of this specimen. 
Mr. R. Service informs me that " Wilham Hastings, 
the taxidermist, had a Little Egret in his coUection, 
which at his death passed into my possession. Hastings 
was not likely to have kept this bird if it had not 
been killed locally; moreover, judging from the other 
birds with which it was packed, it appeared to have 
been a local skin." This specimen cannot now be traced, 
though Mr. R. Service thinks it is still amongst his lumber, 
and the claim of this species to inclusion in the list of our 
county's birds remains unsatisfactory.] 
THE NIGHT-HERON. Nycticorax griseus (Linnseus). 
Has occurred once. 
Sir WiUiam Jardine wrote in 1842 that : " A specimen in our 
own collection was obtained just after it had been skinned, 
and had been killed a day or two previously on the banks of 
the Cluden, a tributary to the River Nith in Dumfriesshire."* 
Robert Gray gives the date as 1825.t This bird is stiUin 
quite good order, and may be seen in the Royal Scottish 
Museum, Edinburgh. It was the second example obtained 
m Scotland, the first having been shot at the Hirsel 
(Berwickshire) on May 25th, 1822, by the Earlof Homet. 
The Night-Heron inhabits parts of central and southern 
* Nat. Lib., 1842, Vol. XII., p. 152. 
t Birds of West Scotland, 1871, p. 282. 
t Birds of Berwickshire, 1895, Vol. II., p. 52. 
