in winter, and spend the day in wading about the marshes, collect eee a about sn and
fly in a compact body to the jungles at the head of the lake, millet nl ae 7 oe " a
exactly the same course every evening ; and I used always to cone ee eee eee an eu
that it was time to take up my post for shooting Ducks, in a small marshy pool between the proper
ht of the Butrinto river and the rocks which shut in the valley to the north. ‘The Egrets almost

rig |
: flew over this pool from west to east, and generally preceded the first flight of Ducks by about

invariably
ten minutes.” — :
The Rev. H. B. Tristram, in his ‘ Notes on the Ornithology of North Africa,” states that the Little

White Egret is “ universally distributed in small numbers Deneve a suitable locas exists, and frequents
familiarly the gardens and ditches of the oases. It breeds in society on the lake Tetzara, and, doubtless, :
+n more southern marshes also.” Mr. C. F. Tyrrwhit Drake remarks that a few may usually be seen in winter
at Martine, in Eastern Morocco. |

Mr. J. H. Gurney says that the bird frequents the Bay of Natal, in South-eastern Africa, but is much
more numerous about the swamps of the Transvaal ; and Captain Sperling, R.N., that it occurs at Mozambic
and Zanzibar, and probably on the intermediate coast of the Ethiopian Region of Africa.

« Not even Lac Halloula, in Algeria,” says Mr. Tristram, in his ‘ Notes on the Ornithology of Palestine,”
“ean rival the marshes of Huleh (Meront) as a paradise for Herons, with this advantage, that the
breeding-places are wholly inaccessible to man. That treacherous swamp, extending for seven miles, with
its deadly malaria, affords a secure haven, under its waving tufts of papyrus, for any number of Heronries.”
Among the many species of the Ardeide there met with by him, the Little Egret was common, but
scattered, and not very sociable.

Capt. Beavan includes it in the avifauna of the Andaman Islands, the truth of which is confirmed
by Col. Tytler, who remarks, “T have had this species alive and identified it.”

According to Dr. Jerdon the Little Egret is very abundant in India; and there it always nests and lays its
four or five blue-green eggs in trees—a statement confirmed by Capt. Beavan.

Mr. Swinhoe states “it is common at Amoy all the year round, and builds in heronries in large
banyan trees. It is also abundant at Hongkong, Macao, and Canton; and in Formosa it is a very
common resident species, associating (especially in summer) in large flocks, and breeding in company in
bamboo and other plantations. I procured a fine male, in full plumage, on the 14th of March.”

Dr. Schlegel informs us that the specimens killed in Japan are precisely like those from the other
countries inhabited by the bird.

With regard to Australia, I have three or four specimens from that country, which appear to be quite
identical with European examples; and C. Coxen, Esq., of Brisbane, has sent me an excellent photograph
of the bird in its fest state of plumage : it is a species not yet figured in my folio work on the birds of
that country, though noticed at p. 305 of the Handbook.

Meyer says :—‘‘ The localities usually resorted to by the Little Egret are the swampy banks of rivers and
lakes where the flags and reeds are of low growth, or the vicinity of woods and large trees (in which it
roosts at night). Its flight is rather quicker than that of the larger species ; but in windy weather it is very
helpless and is obliged to skim low over the bushes and reeds from one piece of water to another. But
when the weather is fine, it may be seen, if startled by intrusion of any kind, circling high up in the air,
as if surveying the neighbourhood before it finally decides upon its course.” It is said that it may be partially

domesticated if taken young, and that its habits and manners are then gentle and harmless: it is also stated
that its ornamental plumes were formerly

used to decorate the helmets of warriors, as they still are by the
Persians and Turks.

This little Heron, says Bailly, in his ‘ Ornithologie de la Savoie,’ ‘is occasionally killed on the borders
of the Rhone, the Iser, the lakes of Bourget, and the M
appears ge - small companies of from two to five, rarely in greater numbers, at two periods of the
fear—l x * e e ° . ° . e ]
ia 7 pri "| the first half of May, when it is clothed in its beautifal wedding-garment, and again
owards t acid of July or the beginning of August, with its
the same time it appears on the lakes a

arches and their very marshy environs. It generally

autumn dress more or less complete. About
Cee nd marshes of Switzerland, but rarely visits the interior of that
: ry. elug not very w i adily admi i
) : : e a it readily admits of approach, whether seeking its food among reeds and
grasses, or perched on the trunk of a tree ing j i or
oe ale es or ona stone. During its stay with us it feeds upon the spawn of
rogs and fish, young frogs, fish, worms, leecl i

‘ young frogs, fish, » leeches and small reptiles. It nests in Sardinia and Sicily, selecting
for that purpose damp and marsh laces suited 1 i 1 :
ae y a suited to the habits of wading and aquatic birds, several couples

@ any. 1€ eggs are from tl i i
ge iree to five in number, p 3, é ; pale

eh ic ae » pointed at both ends, and of a very |

The Plate represents the bird

a trifle less than the natur

al size, with reduced figures in the distance.