LITTLE EGRET.
EGRET HERON. LITTLE CRESTED HERON.
Ardea garzeita, PENNANT. MONTAGU.
Ardea—A Heron. Garzeita— ?
THE elegant and graceful Egret, whose whole plumage is white as
the driven snow, resembles the preceding one—'sic parvis componcrc
magna'—i n all but size; and is likewise assignable to t he same localities,
as being found in Europe occasionally—in Germany, Switzerland, Italy,
Poland, Sicily, France, Spain, the south of Russia, Hungary, Turkey,
Sardinia, and the islands of the Grecian Archipelago; and likewise met
with in Asia—in Persia, and the neighbourhood of the Black Sea and
the Caspian Sea. So also in Africa—in Egypt and Nubia in the east,
and Senegal in the west.
Specimens have been recorded as having occurred in this country as
follows:—In Hampshire, one near Christchurch, in the beginning of
July, 1822; in Cornwall, two near Penzance, in April, 1854. In
Warwickshire, two or three near Sutton Coldfield; in Devonshire, one
at Flatoars, on the River Dart, in the year 1816. A. Cleveland, Esq.
mentions in the 'Zoologist,' page 3116, that one was shot in the south
of Devon, in April, 1851. In Wales, one also, mentioned by Montagu,
in Anglesca; it was a bird of the second year: one or more also. It
has also occurred near Woodbridge, in Suffolk.
I n Ireland, Mr. Templeton records one as having been shot in the
harbour of Cork.
Meyer says 'The localities usually chosen by this species, are
generally the swampy banks of rivers and lakes, where the flags and
reeds are of low growth; or the vicinity of woods and large trees,
in which the birds roost at night.'
' O n the wing, the Little Egret is rather quicker in flight than the
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