shot in the province of Oran, Algeria, in 1858, bearing
the label of the same Club for 1850. These facts are
interesting, as proving that the migrations of the Herons
are more extensive on the Continent, where the severity
of winter is greater than in this country. Here they appear
to be of a partial character, and, so far as can yet be judged
from the Migration Reports, they have mostly been observed
in autumn, and in the northern portions of our islands.
In the British Islands the Heron is generally distributed;
but although found in the Outer Hebrides during the greater
part of the year, it does not appear to breed there. It
sometimes visits the Faeroes ; very rarely straggles to Iceland
; and a young bird was found dead in South Greenland
in 1856. On the coast of Norway its range extends to
lat. 68° N .; but in Sweden and Russia its breeding limits
do not go beyond 57°. South of this it is found in suitable
localities over the greater part of Europe; but in France
there is only one recognized heronry—a very large one—at
Ecury-le-grand, Cliampigneul, Marne. To the Iberian Peninsula
the species is a winter visitor; and the same may be
said of most of Southern Europe, with the exception of the
northern and central districts of Italy, the valley of the
Lower Danube—where Messrs. Seebohm and Young found
it breeding in June,—and Southern Russia. Passing eastward,
it nests throughout the temperate portions of Asia as
far as China and Japan, and southwards to Ceylon; and it
has occurred in Java and in Australia. It visits the Canaries,
Madeira, and the Azores; and its range can be traced over
the greater part of Africa, down to the Cape and Natal, but
it seems probable that statements as to its nesting in the
south relate to a very closely allied species, A. melanocephala.
It has also been obtained in Madagascar and Mauritius.
In the adult male the beak is yellow; the lore yellowish-
green ; irides yellow; forehead and cheeks white ; the long
occipital feathers forming the plume bluish-black; upper
surface of the body and wings frencli-grey; wing-primaries
black; tail-feathers slate-grey; neck white, varied in front
throughout its length with dark bluish-grey, forming elongated
spots : and terminating in long white feathers covering
the chest; under surface of the body greyish-white, streaked
with black; legs and toes greenish-yellow; claws brown.
Length, from the point of the beak to the end of the tail,
about three feet; from the carpal joint to the end of the wing,
eighteen inches. In the females the colours are not quite so
bright, and the plumes are shorter than in the males.
A young male bird is stated by Mr. Rocke (Zool. s.s. p. 81)
to have assumed the long pendulous crest-feathers at the
age of four months; but, as a rule, these are shorter during
the first and second years, and there are no long feathers at
the bottom of the neck; head and neck ash-colour, with dull
dusky-grey streaks in front; the upper mandible of the
beak greenish-brown, the under mandible yellow; the legs
darker in colour, almost brown, and the grey plumage on
the upper surface of the body and wings tinged with brown.
When just hatched the nestling is helpless, and is covered
with a pale hair-like down.
Varieties are sometimes obtained; one in the Museum of
Science and Art at Dublin has the darker portions of the
plumage indicated by a creamy-buff with streaks of umber-
brown.
The members of this family have the breast and lower
flanks furnished with well-developed powdery tufts of decomposed
feathers, the use of which is not known.
The vignette below represents the breastbone of the
Common Heron, about one-third less than the natural size.
' A;'1
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