SQUACCO HERON. 
491 
hundred specimens. It must therefore be rare, if not a mistake in de- 
scribing- the grey wagtail 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 Ralloides, Scopoli.) 
*Ardea ^dilloides, Scopoli, Amer. 1. No. 12 — Ardea comata, Pallas, Reis, 2. p. 715. 
sp. 31. — Gmel. Syst. 1. p.632. sp. 41. — Lath. Ind. Orn. 2 .p.6B7.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 mabou 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. Dent. 4. p. 47. — Meyer, Tasschenb. 
Deut. 2.p. 341. — Sgarza Ciufetto, Star. degl. ucc. 4. p. 419. and 420. — Naum, 
Vbg. 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. — Bu^. Ois. 7. p. 524. — Swabian Bittern, and Dwarf 
Heron, Lath. Syn. 3. p. 60. and 77. — Naum. Vbg. 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 
