PURPLE HERON". 
88 
In Suffolk one, some time in the month of November, 1835, 
obtained on the borders of a large piece of water, known by 
the name of King’s Fleet, near the mouth of the Woodbridge 
river. In Sussex one, an immature bird, at Catsfield, in 
October, 1851. Two others also in the same county. 
In Ireland one was obtained. 
These birds breed in society like the last-described species, 
and are also of a shy, solitary, and retired disposition. When 
watching for prey they stand similarly—with the neck much 
retracted, and drawn in between the shoulders. They frequent, 
as may be imagined, aquatic and marshy districts. They 
frequent the same spots, and in those remain the greater 
part of the day, only roaming from them early in the morning 
or late in the evening. Meyer says, ‘It is remarkable how 
this bird often precipitates itself out of its hiding-place from 
behind some stump or water-plant; for, like many other birds 
that are fond of hiding, it thinks itself secure until a nervous 
feeling makes it run into imminent danger, by discovering 
itself when any person comes near.’ ‘It will sit for hours 
together at rest, with its neck stretched out in a straight 
line.’ ‘During windy weather it rarely flies about.’ They do 
very well in confinement, if brought up from the nest, but 
their formidable bills are sometimes dangerous. 
These birds feed on fish, water insects, and small reptiles 
and animals. As many as fifty small fish are not unfrequently 
found in one bird. 
The note is a harsh croak. 
With regard to the nidification and eggs of this bird, the 
following is the account given by Mr. Hewitson, as com muni- 
cated to him by Mr. Hoy:—‘The Purple Heron does not 
begin to breed so early as the Common Heron, the end of May 
being the time of incubation. They breed in society like the 
Common Heron, very frequently in low trees, in plantations 
of alder and willow, in the vicinity of rivers and large inland 
waters, the nests being only a few feet above the ground, 
upon which they are likewise sometimes placed in swamps 
overgrown with tall rushes, and in extensive tracts of reeds; 
they are large and flat, and are composed entirely of sticks, 
the finer towards the inside, or lined with species of dry 
sedge and rushes.’ They are placed a few yards from the 
water; in shape they are flat and broad. Two or three nests 
are occasionally found near each other. 
‘The eggs are commonly four, rarely five, in number, and 
