174 
AEDEID^. 
wounded and brought it to me, its wing and thigh-bone having 
been broken with the shot. When I took it in my hands,, it 
raised up its head in a threatening attitude, erecting its crest, 
opening its bill and tliroat extremely wide, and at the same time 
uttering a loud croak.” The bird is in the plumage of the first 
year, or that of the Gardenian heron {Ardea Gardenii), as repre- 
sented by Mr. Selby. 
It is stated, in the Fauna of Cork,^ published in 1845, that 
" a fine male, with very long white crest, was shot at Castlefreke, 
a few years since, by the Eev. Joseph Stopford,” (p. 12.) As 
noticed by Mr. Eobert J. Montgomery, before the Dublin Nat. 
Hist. Society : — A night heron was killed on the 1st of May 
1848, at Beaulieu, in the county Louth, the seat of the Eev. A. 
J. Montgomery, by the Eev. Edward Groome, the rector of the 
parish. It was observed for several days frequenting the reedy 
margin of a piece of water in the demesne at Beaulieu, and was 
at first mistaken for a bittern by my cousin, who, knowing I was 
anxious for a specimen of the latter bird, in vain endeavoured to 
get a shot at it. When started from the reeds it took refuge in a 
tree. Mr. Groome shot twice at it before he succeeded in knocking 
it down, and even then, though severely wounded, it crawled 
through the weeds, and was with some difficulty captured. I 
received it the same day. On dissection it proved to be a male. 
While fresh, the irides were beautiful, of a colour between orange 
and vermilion — the legs and feet pale lemon yeUow, of a particular 
delicate hue. Mr. YarreU says they are green ; but in this case 
they were of tiie colour mentioned. It measured, from the tip 
of the beak to the end of the tail twenty-three and a half inches ; 
from the carpal joint to the end of the wing, twelve inches. The 
secondaries were spotted as in the Gardenian heron. It wanted the 
white crest, but was in other respects nearly in adult plumage.”* 
The night heron is a rare visitant from the south to England, 
and has twice been known to migrate to Scotland — in one of 
which instances a pair were kiUed.f 
* This bird was briefly noticed in the Zoologist for June 1848, (p. 2147.) 
t Jardine, British Birds, vol. iii. 152. 
