186 AllDEIDÆ.
that continent down to Cape Colony, although necessarily
local in its distribution.
The nests of the Little Egret are usually placed in hushes
and trees, together with those of other swamp-loving species;
the material consisting of sticks and a few reeds, on
which are deposited the eggs, varying from three to six in
number: of a pale bluish-green; averaging 1*8 by 1*8 in,
Dr. H. Gadow informs the Editor that he shot examples of
this species on the 17th April, 1884, round an isolated rock
on the south coast of Portugal, on the inaccessible summit
of which this species appeared to he breeding, together with
some species of Gull. Mr. Seebolim describes this bird as
being very noisy, and uttering a note of alarm or defiance
resembling the syllables ak, ark, and ork.
The food of the Little Egret consists of small fishes,
aquatic insects, frogs, and worms.
The adult bird in spring and summer has the beak black;
the lore lavender; the irides vary from yellow to pale
lavender ; the whole of the plumage a pure and delicate
white ; crest of two long narrow feathers; some elongated
plumes at the bottom of the neck in front; feathers of the
back greatly lengthened and filamentous ; the legs mostly
black, yellowish on the lower portions, as are also the soles
of the feet; clawTs black. In winter the dorsal and occipital
plumes are absent.
The whole length of the male is twenty-five inches ; from
the beak to the feathers on the forehead, three inches and
a half; from the carpal joint to the end of the wing, eleven
inches and a quarter; length of tarsus four inches ; bare
part above, two inches and a half. Females are rather
smaller ; but Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun., says that the plumes
are sometimes equally developed.
Young birds are white with a greyish tinge, and have no
elongated plumes. A nestling from the Dobrudscha, for
which the Editor is indebted to Mr. E. Bidwell, is covered
with a greyish down distinctly tinged with buff on the upper
parts, and very different from the white of the preceding
species.
BUFF-BACKED HERON 187
h e r o d io n e s . ARDEIDÆ.
, (
A r d e a b u b u l c u s , Audouin.*
THE BUFF-BACKED HERON. (Adult.)
Ardea russata.
The first notice of the occurrence of this rare bird in
England was communicated to the Linnean Society by
Montagu on the 5th of May, 1807 (Trans, ix. p. 197) ; and
a more detailed account of it, under the name of the * Little
White Heron,’ was afterwards published in the Supplement
to his Ornithological Dictionary, from which some of the
following particulars are derived.
“ This elegant little species of Heron, which was shot
Explication sommaire des Planches d’Oiseaux de l’Egypte, &c., i. p. 298,
folio Ed. (1826); p. 391, 8vo. Ed. (1828).