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banks of the Waihi in the same district. The natives made every possible effort to obtain these birds 
for the sake of the white plumes. In both of the last-mentioned cases they succeeded in killing one 
of them, the survivor remaining in the locality for several months, leaving only on the approach of 
winter. In former years it was always to be met with singly or in pairs in certain districts in the 
South Island, but with the extension of settlement it has disappeared. In the summer of 1859 (after 
stalking him for two hours), I shot a beautiful adult male at the sea-shore lagoon near Timaru, and 
saw another pair feeding among the sedges of Lake Ellesmere. 
Mr. Cheeseman writes to me from the Auckland Museum : — “ I have in the Museum a small 
specimen of this Heron shot by Mr. Lewis Eye in the Otamatea district, Kaipara. About two years 
ago one was killed in the swamps by the Thames river and exhibited for a few days at the Thames. 
Quite recently (1881) Mr. James Stewart, C.E., has informed me that one had been shot by his survey 
party employed on the Eotorua railway.” 
Subsisting almost entirely on eels and small freshwater fish, it frequents the sedgy shores of 
lagoons and the banks of tidal streams ; but it sometimes resorts also to the open sea-beach, where I 
have myself shot it. 
It is very interesting to watch this stately bird stalking about in its haunts, or fishing in the 
shallow water, its snow-white plumage rendering it a very conspicuous object. I have always found 
it very shy and difficult to approach, the slightest sound exciting its suspicion and making it take 
wing. It flies high and in wide circles, the wings performing slow and regular flappings, the head 
being drawn in upon the shoulders, and the legs trailing behind. 
None of our birds enjoy a wider geographic range. Major Legge, in his ‘ Birds of Ceylon,’ * has 
traced its course with a very skilful hand, and I cannot do better than reproduce his account in a 
condensed form : — It is to be found in all large marshes and tanks throughout the northern half of 
Ceylon, and in the southern districts also wherever there are extensive tracts of wild paddy-land. In 
India it is a very common bird, being of course most abundant in the better-watered districts, but 
may be found everywhere, feeding by rivers and tanks. It is said to be very plentiful in the region 
between the Ganges and the Godaveri. About Calcutta it is only occasionally met with. Passing 
eastward, it is found generally distributed throughout the plains portion of Tenasserim. It is likewise 
found in the Andamans. Keturning to India, it is recorded by Dr. Scully as occurring in the valley 
of Nepal in the winter ; and evidently is found all along the base of the Himalayas, as also in the 
plains westward to the Punjab. In Sindh it is common and is distributed, less numerously, throughout 
the entire surrounding region. In Kashgharia it is plentiful in winter, migrating northward in the 
spring to breed. According to Severtzoff it breeds throughout Turkestan and winters in the western 
portions of that country. It is spread throughout the Chinese empire, breeding in large numbers 
near Pekin ; and Swinhoe met with it in Formosa. In the Malay archipelago, through which it 
extends to Australia, it is found in Borneo, Celebes, Ternate, Timor, and the Aru Islands. It has 
been recorded from every settlement in the north of Australia, and from most parts of the East Coast 
down to Victoria; also from South Australia and Tasmania. In Asia Dr. Eadde observed it in the 
Central Argunj valleys and again in Siberia. Major St. John met with it in Persia, and Mr. Blanford 
in Baluchistan ; while Canon Tristram found it to be a spring and summer visitor to Palestine. In 
Asia Minor it is common, and in Greece slightly less numerous, though abundant in the marshes of 
Macedonia. In south-eastern Europe it is much more numerous than further west ; rare in Spain, 
* 'Writing of this hirtl in Ceylon, Major Legge says : — “ Breeding-plumage. Iris bright pale golden yellow ; hill blackish • 
loral skin and space round eye greenish yellow ; legs and feet black ; tibia paler than tarsus The bill remains black a 
very short time, turning yellow long before the dorsal train is moulted ; the tip, however, is black at this stage.” 
The late Dr, Jerdon, writing of the closely allied A. modesia in India, says : — “The bill becomes black before the train is 
developed, and changes again to yellow before the train is shed ; so that both black-billed and yellow-billed individuals may be 
obtained with or without the dorsal train, and othei’s with the bill changing colour in all .stages of progress.” 
