660 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXVIII 
passage migrant or possibly a summer visitor whose breeding quarters were not 
discovered by any observer, quite a possibility when the huge expanse of some 
of the marshes is remembered. 
Pitman records small flocks on passage at Feluja on April 26th and 27th ; the 
earliest date on which this species was noticed was April 14th and there are 
several records from the lower Tigris during this month. It was noted again on 
August 5th and, on and off, till early in September near Baghdad and in other 
places. Pitman obtained one specimen on August 23rd ; there are two others in 
the British Museum. 
227. Great White Heron. Egretta alba. 
Not very common ; there are scattered records from widely separate districts 
from November to February so that probably it is a winter visitor in small num- 
bers. Logan Home records a pair at Samarra on May 12th. Zarudny gives it as 
a passage migrant in the Karun area. No specimens were obtained but it pro- 
bably is the tyiiical race which occurs. 
228. Night Heron. Nycticorax nycticorax. 
Nycticorax nycticorax nycticorax (L). (Syst. Nat., x, p. 142, 1758— S. 
Europe). 
The status of the Night Heron is not at all clear ; Gumming says it arrives at 
Fao in October and leaves in May and from other evidence it is quite clear that 
it is present in winter ; on the other hand there is good proof that in places it 
nests, so that perhaps at the most it is a local migrant. As elsewhere it seems to 
have its favourite haunts, so that where it occurs, hundreds may be seen together, 
whereas over large tracts of country it may not be met with at all. Thus near 
Qalet Saleh there is a very big roost where thousands come to spend the day in 
the date palms, and Buxton noted a fair sized roost at Amara in March, otherwise 
one may say it is generally distributed, though patchily. 
Tomlinson records that it breeds at Shustar in June and Logan Home found 
a colony six miles below Amara where the birds on April 11th were just begin- 
ning to build, while at Samarra he saw five or six fully grown young by the river 
bank on June 12th ; it probably breeds near Museyib, according to Pitman. 
Four skins examined : Lake Akkaruf, 18-8-17 (C. R. P.) ; Amara, 
12-1-18 (P. Z. C. and R. E. C.) ; Amara, two (P. A. B.). 
229. Little Bittern. Ixobrychus minutus. “ Moodoo-wacha. ” 
Ixobrychus minutus minutus (Id.). (Syst. Nat. Ed. xii, p. 240, 1766 — - 
Switzerland). 
Though Zarudny gives this species as a passage migrant and winter visitor, it 
appears from our records that the majority are summer visitors and some per- 
haps resident all the year. We have very few winter records and it is not until 
the end of March and early April that it becomes at all numerous. It breeds 
fairly commonly in lower Mesopotamia at all events, but appears to be commonest 
in the Basra district to Fao and Shush. Nest building commences in the first 
week of May or a little earlier and fresh eggs may be found from mid-May to 
early June. Tomlinson has found eggs as early as May 8th. According to 
Hobkirk and Logan Home the nests are situated in dense high reeds in the marshes 
and made of dead reeds and placed about two feet above the water ; an unusual 
site for a nest was found by the latter observer ; the nest was fifteen feet up in a 
mulberry tree growing by the water side, it was built of fine twigs and lined with 
green mulberry leaves, the male was standing on the empty nest on May 4th ; 
when visited again on the 17th the nest contained seven eggs, a number which 
was reported on two other occasions, though five or six is more usual ; the_ 
female, when incubating, sits very close. 
Four specimens examined ; cf , Kamisiyeh, 4-1-17 (Aldworth) ; Shush, 
3-5-17 (P. Z. C. and R. E. C.) ; cf ? , Basra, 22-5-19 (L. Home), 
