BRITISH BIRDS. 
7 
THE LITTLE WHITE HERON. 
(Ardea cequinoctialis^ Lin . — La Garzetie Uanche, Buff.) 
The length of this elegant little species is about 
twenty inches ; the bill is two inches long, and of an 
orange yellow ; the lore and orbits the same ; the 
irides pale yellow ; the crown of the head and upper 
part of the neck before are buff; on the back of the 
head the feathers are a little elongated ; on the lower 
part of the neck the feathers are more elongated, and 
hang detached over the upper part of the breast ; the 
tail is short and covered by the folded wings ; the rest 
of the plumage is snowy white ; legs three inches and 
a half long to the joint, and bare an inch and a half 
above it; they, as well as the toes and claws, are black, 
tinged with green, the middle claw pectinated. This 
rare bird was first brought into notice as a British bird 
by Mr Montagu, from whose description the above is 
extracted. He says it was shot on the southern-most 
promontory of Devonshire, very near the coast, be- 
tween the Start and the Prawl. 
