BUFF-BACKED HERON.
ARDEA BUBULCUS, Audouin.
Ardea bubulcus, Audouin, Expi. Somm. PI. Ois. de l’Egypte,
i. p. 298 (1825) ; Yarr. ed. 4, iv. p. 187 ; Dresser, vi.
p. 245.
Egretta russata, Macg. iv. p. 474.
Héron garde-boeuf, French ; Garra patosa, Purgabueyes,
Spanish.
This very beautiful little Heron is a very rare visitor
to our country. Mr. H. Saunders *, our most recent
authority, states that the specimen obtained near Kings-
bridge in October. 1805, presented to and recorded by
Colonel Montagu, and now in the Natural-History
Museum at South Kensington, is the only authenticated
British-killed example known to exist.
I have met with this species in great abundance in
the great marshes of the Guadalquivir below Seville
during the summer ; it breeds in that district in large
colonies amongst high reeds and bushes, and is constantly
to be seen amongst the herds of half-wild cattle,
very often perched upon the backs of the beasts,
searching for ticks, which seem to constitute if not the
principal, at least a very favourite diet of this bird.
We found the Buff-backed Egret very common in
* ‘ Manual of British Birds,’ p. 363.