A ccording to Latliam (Synopsis, iii. p. 53), the first specimen
of the Night-Heron recorded in England, was shot near
London in May, 1782, since which more than sixty examples
have been obtained in the British Islands. The species
may, in fact, he considered as an almost annual visitor to
our shores in spring and autumn, and in the south-western
counties it has sometimes occurred under circumstances which
invite the belief that, if unmolested, the birds would have bred
with us. Thus Mr. C. J. Bulteel records in ‘ The Zoologist’
(p. 2528), the discovery of four Night-Herons near Erme-
bridge, in Devonshire, on the 23rd May, 1849, all of which
he succeeded in bagging; about a week later, from information
he received, he renewed his search, and killed two
more; and on the 22nd June two more were secured, making
a complement of eight adult birds, four males and four
females. Mr. Rodd mentions that in the second week of
May, 1869, a pair of Night-Herons in adult plumage was
secured near Hayle, in Cornwall, the ovary of the female
containing eggs the size of a small bean; and from information
supplied to the Editor by the Rev. M. A. Mathew,
it seems probable that a brood was actually hatched out that
year near New Bridge on the Taw, in North Devon. Several
other examples have been obtained in Cornwall and Devon;
also in Dorsetshire, Hampshire, Sussex, and the southern
counties generally. In the eastern counties about a score of
examples have been recorded: the last at Ranworth, Norfolk,
in July 1880; in Yorkshire only four or five; in Durham
and Northumberland still fewer; and to the western side of
the island its visits have been few and far between. It lias
also been obtained from time to time in many of our inland
counties, such as Oxfordshire, Berks, Bucks, Northamptonshire,
Nottinghamshire, &c. In Scotland three captures are
recorded by Jardine, to wdiich have since been added three
more—all in the south; and one, in immature plumage,
shot near Aberdeen on the 9th January, 1866. In Ireland
examples have been obtained in Donegal, Armagh, Louth,
Kilkenny, Queen’s County, and Cork.
The Night-Heron has been known to visit the Faeroes,
South Sweden, and Denmark; but even on the southern
shores of the Baltic it is of rare occurrence. Of late years
it has gradually receded from its breeding-places in the
northern districts of Germany and Holland; and in the
greater part of France it is principally known on migration,
although it breeds sparingly in the south. In the Spanish
Peninsula it nests in suitable localities, as well as in the
marshes of Italy. In the island of Sardinia it is resident
throughout the year; and it visits the entire coast and
islands of the Mediterranean on passage. It breeds in considerable
numbers in the valley of the Danube; and eastwards
it ranges throughout temperate Asia as far as Japan ;
being resident in India, Burmah, and China ; and occurring in
the Philippines and the islands of the Eastern Archipelago.
Its distribution extends over the whole of Africa and the
neighbouring islands. The bird may in fact be described as
cosmopolitan ; for in America, from the Fur Countries down
to Chili and the Falkland Islands—including most of the
West Indian Islands and Bermuda—is found a form which
offers no differences in plumage, but which is on the average
slightly larger in size; and in South America the
latter developes into a darker race, known by the name of
N. obscurus. Both forms occur in the Sandwich Islands.
In the Malayo-Australian region our bird is represented by
N. caledonicus, which has the mantle, scapulars, wings, and
tail fine cinnamon-colour.
The nests of the Night-Heron are generally placed in
hushes or pollards, in the neighbourhood of swamps; but
in places where the birds are protected, they select groves
of trees, as, for instance, round the great Honam Temple at
Canton, where the birds are held sacred. Swinhoe describes
the nests as placed thickly in some venerable banyans; the
granite slabs that form the pavement beneath the trees being
bedaubed with the droppings of old and young, while from
the nests arose the chattering cry of the callow broods, for
which the parent birds were catering the whole day long,
becoming more active at sunset. As darkness set in the
noise and hubbub from the trees rose to a fearful pitch