HER0D1 AS ALBA.
Great White Egret or White Heron.
Ardea alba, Linn. Faun. Suec., p. 69.
egretta, Temm. Man. d'Om. (1815), p. 367.
egretto'ides, S. G. Gmel. Reise, tom. ii. p. 193, tab. 24.
modesta, J. E. Gray, Zoot Misc., p. 19.
flavirostris, Wagl. (Jerdon).
Erodius Victoria), Macgill. Man. Nat. Hist., Ora. vol. ii. p. 131.
albm, MttugiU- lb. vol. ii. p. 134.
lierodias candide, Brehm, Vog. Deutschl., p.-684.
•—;— egretta, Baie, Isis, 1822, p. 559.
---------- syrmatophorw, Gould, Birds of Australia, vol. vi. pi. 56.
Egretta alba, Swain#. Oas*. of Bird«, vol. ii. p. 364.
T h e r e can be no doubt that the Herodias alba has just claims to a place in the avifauna of tin1 British
Islands. Willughby and Latham both regarded it in this lig h t; and more recent writers, from V nr red to
Mr. Stevenson, have recorded instances o f its occurrence in various parts of our country. Sir William Jardine
states that during the winter o f 1840—41 several White Herons were killed both in England and Scotland,
and mentions that one was seen several times upon the shores o f the Solway on the English side, above Port
Carlisle; and Mr. Harting, in his ‘ Handbook o f British Birds,’ enumerates nearly twenty instances of its
capture in other localities.
As regards the habits and economy of the bird, there has o f course been but little opportunity for becoming
acquainted with them in this conn try, the individuals that stray here from the neighbouring caatment being
usually permitted but a brief sojourn, its attractive appearance soon causing it to become a victim to the
gunner, and to be added to the rarities o f some local museum or private coHert«*«.
-Ornithologists are still divided in opinion as to the range o f the Iferodkat a&n, whether it be axmrvmsdSkg
dispersed, o r if it he confined to the older portion o f the globe. Some would r&artet it« Hwiio* to
Asia, and Africa, and separate the Australian and New-Zealand birds as distinct—a view wirtefr. ! fbejatsriy
entertained when I gave a figure of the species iu the sixth volume of my folio work on the bird* •:
though I rescinded it in my Hand-book. As regards the individual* which have visit«! «. r
is no doubt th at they were examples o f one and the same species, a species which frequent» the w , / v f
southern portions o fEurope, Africa, from north to south, Asia Minor, India, and China. All Indian uporltiianett
coHwtors speak o f it as a bird o f great beauty and o f striking, appearance, particularly just prior u>
ihi’ --.i: when its plumes are in their highest state o f development.
Tfee wfiw b n r been ktndlv forwarded to me by my correspondents, to which I have
appended same wfew'b hsu>e f ro » time to time been published reujweting the Great Egret.
Mr. Rodd, of Pm v k v , me oa the 21st of November, 1870, that on one o f the Sciily Islands,
called Hedgc-rock, there were frequently Common Herons, and that among them was seen a large
white bird o f a similar size, that it had been seen there more than once, and, after straying away for some time,
returned again to the same islet with the Common Herons ; as this individual was, so far as Mr. Rodd knew,
never shot, it must not be included among the birds o f Sciily; for it may have been a Spoonbill, or a U bite
Stork. '
Charles Isham Strong, Esq., of Thorpe Hall, Peterborough, wrote on the 14th of November, 1872, to
inform me that the Great White Heron in his collection was killed on ThorneyFen in Cambridgeshire (some
ten miles distant), by a small farmer, who wished to have it preserved for himself, but, not liking the expense,
sold it to. a bird-stuffer at Peterborough, who resold it to M r. Strong’s father. This specimen, which has the
ornamental plumes on the back, would appear to have been killed between the 1st of May and the 14th ui
July.
In Yarrell’s ‘ History of British Birds ’ (vol. ii. p. 150) it is stated that Messrs. Sheppard and Whitear, in
tbeir “ Catalogue o f the Norfolk ami Suffolk Birds,” published in the fifteenth volume of the * Transactions
o f the Linnean Society,’ say :—‘’ On the 3rd o f October, 1834, in a walk on the banks of the river Stour,
we observed a large White Heron cross over from the Suffolk to the Essex side o f the river. It appeared
to be pure white, and to stand up rather taller than some Common Herons which were feeding not far off.
A similar bird was observed in the spring on the Oakley shores ; and subsequently to our observation, onC
was seen on the banks o f the river Orwell.” But the most valuable addition to our knowledge o f the