as killed at Buttermere. Montagu, in his Supplement, says
that a White Heron made its appearance on the borders of
the river Avon, in Devonshire, in the autumn of the year
1805, where it was frequently observed by the Rev. Mr.
Vaughan, in company with three or four of the common
species, and sometimes alone ; hut its extreme wariness
disappointed the many attempts to shoot it, although it
continued within the range of a few miles for two months.
Messrs. Sheppard and Whitear, in their Catalogue of the
Norfolk and Suffolk Birds (Trans. Linn. Soc. xv. p. 40), say,
“ that on the 3rd of October, 1834, in a walk on the banks
of the river Stour, we observed a large White Heron cross
over from the Suffolk to the Essex side of the river. It
appeared to be pure white, and to stand up rather taller
than some Common Herons, which were feeding not far off.
A similar bird was observed in the spring on the Oakley
shores; and, subsequently to our observation, one was seen
on the banks of the river Orwell.” A specimen, formerly in
the collection of the late Mr. Tliurtell of Eaton, appears,
according to Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun., to have been mounted
from a skin, and not from the flesh.
The earliest proof of the occurrence of this species in
England, was supplied by Mr. Arthur Strickland in a communication
made to the British Association, at its meeting
at Newcastle in August, 1838 (Report Trans, p. 106), in
which he stated that “ twelve or thirteen years previously a
bird of this species was seen for some weeks about Hornsea
Mere, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, and was some time
after presented to the Author, in whose collection it then
was in perfect preservation.” Mr. Strickland added that
“ another, in full summer plumage, was killed by a labourer
in the fields of Mr. James Hall, of Scorborougli, near
Beverley, about three years ago, and was in the possession
of that gentleman ;* and a third specimen of this bird was in
* The former is now (1884) in tlie Strickland collection in the Museum at
fork, and Mr. W. E. Clarke gives the date of its capture as “ winter of 1821”
(Yorks. Yertebs. p. 50). The second is now, according to the same authority,
in the Rudston collection in the York Museum.
the collection of Mr. Foljambe, of Osberton, near Worksop
[in Nottinghamshire], with a label on the case stating it to
have been killed near that place.” A third Yorkshire example,
shot at New Hall, near Barnsley, in 1821, is in the
possession of Sir Joseph Radcliffe (Clarke, Yorks. Yertebs.
p. 50). The Author received a notice of one killed in Lincolnshire,
but where the specimen was deposited he did not
know; and Mr. Frederick Holme sent him the measurements
of a specimen shot on the Isis in Oxfordshire, in September,
1833. An adult male killed on the 9th of June,
1840, on Tyninghame sands, in the Frith of Forth, by
Mr. Martin, gamekeeper to the Earl of Haddington, is in
the collection at Tyninghame House, and was examined in
a recent state by Macgillivray. Lastly, one shot on Tliorney
Fen, Cambridgeshire, in 1849 (Zool. p. 2568), is now in
the possession of Mr. Charles Isham Strong, of Thorpe
Hall, Peterborough. It has the ornamental plumes on the
back, and is said to have been killed between the 1st of
May and the 14tli of July.
There are also statements as to this species having been
recognized, but not obtained; for instance, according to
Mr. Thomas Edward, on the Loch of Strathbeg, and again
on the coast of Banff; on the Solway and in various parts of
Scotland in severe winters ; on Romney Marsh, Kent, by
moonlight; and near Penzance. But dismissing these records
for what they may be worth, it would appear that at least six
British-killed specimens are still available for examination.
On the Continent this beautiful species of Heron was included
in the Swedish Fauna by Linnaeus and Retzius, who
say of it, Habitat in Scania, visa ad Araslof; and Mr.
Dresser states, on the authority of Dr. Sundstrom, that
five examples have been obtained in Sweden between November,
1856, and May, 1877. To the western portions of
Europe and to the Azores it is merely a straggler, but it
not unfrequently visits the eastern coasts of Spain, and the
marshes of the south of France, breeding, according to Dr.
Companyo, until quite recently, near Perpignan. Alexander
von Homeyer found a single pair nesting near Glogau in