say that in March, 1826, at a sale in Southampton, an Egret,
supposed to have been shot in the neighbourhood, fetched
£5 5s. Upon this the late W. Christy, jun., adds (p. 647)
“ I have a very fine specimen of the Egret, said to have
been shot at or near Sutton Coldfield, in Warwickshire.
I bought it of a very respectable bird-stuffer, who assured
me he had received the bird direct from the person who shot
it. Still I confess I had my doubts, and bought the skin
more for its beauty than as an authentic British specimen.
However, during a visit in April last to Lord Mount Norris,
at Arley Hall, I happened to meet with a gentleman who
assured me that within the last few years he had known of
three specimens of the Egret, and two of the Little Bittern,
having been shot at Sutton Coldfield. I therefore think
there is no doubt of its occurrence in this country, though
it must be classed among our rarest birds.” A bird in the
collection of Dr. Diamond of Twickenham, labelled as “ shot
by Boger Stoughton, near Sparham, Norfolk, 1831,” has
proved to be the American species Ardea candidissima (Tr.
Norw. Soc. iii. p. 565), but the specimen is known to have
been stuffed by Hadgraft, who had dealings with America,
and an unintentional substitution is more than probable.
Gould, in his ‘ Birds of Great Britain,’ vol. iv., gives the
following particulars, furnished by Lord Hotham, respecting
a specimen belonging to Mr. James Hall, of Scorborough,
near Beverley, who writes : “ The Little Egret in my possession
was killed by a labourer with a stick in Ake [Aike] Carr,
near Beverley, about 1840, and was brought to me, tied up
in a pocket-handkerchief, covered with black wet mud and
blood, in which state it was sent to Mr. Reed, of Doncaster,
who restored it in a marvellous manner.” Another Yorkshire
occurrence rests on the authority of Mr. Robert P.
Harper, who states (Zool. 1881, p. 213) that an example
in very fair plumage, but wanting the long occipital feathers,
was then in the possession of Mr. Thompson, a bird-preserver,
and had been shot near Haybourn Wyke, near the
town of Scarborough, on the 4th January, 1881 ; a remarkable
time of year for a species which hardly winters to the
north of the Mediterranean. Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun., states
that there is an example in winter dress in the Museum at
Wisbeach, labelled ‘ South Lincolnshire, December 1851 ’ ;
but so far as he and Mr. Cordeaux can make out, it was
given as a skin by the Rev. F. Latham, of Helpringliam,
who thinks that he got it in Hampshire (‘ Rambles of a
Naturalist,’ p. 284). Mr. A. E. Knox was informed that a
specimen in the collection of Sir Percy Shelley was shot a
few years prior to 1855 at Warnham Mill-pond, in Sussex.
Last, and most satisfactory of all, is the record by Mr.
J. Gatcombe (Zool. s.s. p. 2308) of an adult which he
examined, recently killed at Countess Weir, on the river
Exe, on the 3rd June, 1870, and then belonging to Mr.
E. H. Harbottle, of Topsham, near Exeter.
The Little Egret has not been known to occur beyond the
Baltic, and it is a rare visitor to Germany, Holland, and the
north of France. In the southern and eastern portions of
the latter country, it is not uncommon; and it is tolerably
abundant, in suitable localities, in the Spanish Peninsula,
Italy, Sicily, Sardinia, and the countries bordered by the
Mediterranean. The northern limit of its breeding-range
appears to be in the wooded swamps of Slavonia, where Mr.
W. E. Clarke found it nesting towards the end of May,
1888, on the Obedska ‘ bara,’ a horseshoe-shaped marsh, on
the river Save, not far from Semlin. In the same year
Messrs. Seebohm and Young found this species breeding
in colonies on the Lower Danube. It is common during
the breeding-season in Turkey and in Southern Russia ; and
it has been observed in Asia Minor, Palestine, and Persia.
In many parts of India, and in Ceylon, it is resident; the
nesting-time in the north being from July to August, and
in the south from December to January. Its range extends
from the Caspian to Japan and China; it has been obtained
in the Philippines and the islands of the Eastern Archipelago
; and it visits the northern portions of Australia. In
the west it is known to visit the Azores, the Canaries, and
the Cape de Verde Islands; it frequents the marshes of
Northern Africa, and appears to be found over the rest of
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