GRALLATORES. \ ARDEIDÆ.
T H E L IT T L E EG R E T .
Ardea garzetta, Egret Heron, ' Penw. Brit. Zool. voi. ji. p. 21.
- ” ” The Egret, Mon-t. Ornith.
” > ” » » Fxem. Brit. An. p. 96.
” r ” Little Egret, Bewick, Brit. Birds, vol. if. p. 18.
» __»* Egret Heron, Selby, Brit. Ornith. vol. ii. p. 21.
' ” ” » Jenyns, Brit. Vert, p.187.
” ” The Egret, G ould, Birds of Europe, pt. v.
” - ” Heron Garzette> Temm. Man. d’Omith. vol. ii. p. 574.
P ennant says, 44 W e once received out of Anglesey the-
feathers of a bird shot there, which we suspect to be the
E g re t; this is the only instance, perhaps, of its being recently
found in England. One was shot in Ireland in the year
1793. That it was formerly very frequent here, appears by
some of the old bills of fa re :.in the famous feast of Archbishop
Nevil, we find no less than a thousand Asterides,
Egrets, or Egrittes, as it is differently spelt. Perhaps the
esteem they were in ■ as a delicacy during those days, occas
io n e d their extirpation in our islands.; abroad they are still
common, especially in,, the southern parts of Europe, where
they appear in flocks-.”- Dr. Fleming remarks, 44 that it is
possible1 the Lapwing may'have hsefn there referred to, as the
mosfccommon bird with a crest-.” ' To thi.s opinion Mr. Selby
subscribes., Aigrette and egret are common terms for a tuft
of-feathers ; and the Liftlp, Egret appears to have been much
‘too rare*aispeeies in'this country to have afforded t-he supply.
That the Little Egret ought, however* to be retained in our
catalogues^as a British Bird,—-which-,has been denied,—the
-following', evidence- will suffi^utly prove..
Mr. Templeton| in this' Catalogue of the Vertebrate Animals
’of Lteland* says of this* bird, $j?There 1« a specimen in
tire Dublin Museum', which was shot in the harbour of Cork,
in 1792^_.
ViifThe Rev. L. Jenyns-, in his Manual of British Vertebrate
Animals, says,of this bird, “ In April 1824, two specimens
arèiMeCorded -to have been killed at Penzance in Cornwall,
and one of them to* have been- preserved.” In this case, I
. believe, Mr, Gouch* the author of the Cornish Fauna, was
the authority.
J . - C. Dale, Esq. the well-known Entomologist* has recorded
his memorandum of (M having been shot near the
riverfcStour, at 'Christchurch, Hants, in the beginning of
July 1822, by thé late Mr. William Léckÿer, who sold it to
. Mr. Barrow, of 'Christchurc®J|by whom it was preserved.
The late W. Christy* Jim: published the following paragraph
in the Magazine qf, Natural- History for 1836, page
647 :—“ I have a very fine spécimen of the Egret, said to