which, from the dimensions of the tail remaining in

pellet of mouse-hair,

e that of a short-tailed field-mouse. ”
e been frequently enriched by notices of the occurrence

and the stomach contained a mere
the pellet, was believed to b
During the progress of the present work its pages hav

of some of our rarer birds, kindly transmitted by various fr
Mr. E. H. Rodd, writing from Penzance, April 24th, 1867, says, ‘I examined a

ay which had been brought from the Lizard. It was in the rufous or immature
we of the female before the development of the plumes

iends ; and the three following relative to the present

subject are now before me.
female Purple Heron yesterd
state of plumage—that is, if such be the plume
characteristic of the adult male. The proof of its bei
displaying a series of eggs from the size of swan- to that of dust-shot.”

Mr. R. C. Musgrave, in a note dated Eden Hall, Penrith, November 21, 1870, says, ‘“‘the Purple Heron
in my father’s collection was shot near Alston, in Cumberland, about twenty years ago; ” and, lastly, Mr. J.
H. Gurney, jun., writes from North Repps, near Norwich, on the 5th of March, 1872, ‘a very fine young
Purple Heron was shot at Horning (which is between Norwich and the sea-coast), about the 4th of December
last, and was taken to a Norwich bird-stuffer, of whom I bought it. ‘Two mice were found in its stomach.
My father bas an adult Sussex specimen.”

The Purple Heron is, perhaps, nowhere more abundant than in Holland and in the adjoining province of
Brabant. There it is common, and breeds in many of the great swamps near the embouchure of the Rhine

ng a female was conclusive, the opening of the ovary

and other rivers of those low countries ; it is also found to the northward of those countries, but in less and
less abundance as we proceed in that direction; to the southward, on the contrary, its numbers do not
diminish ; and it is found throughout the central and southern parts of Europe, wherever localities suitable
for its maintenance occur. It is tolerably abundant, and even breeds in Spain, as will be seen on reference
to Mr. Howard Saunders’s paper in ‘ The Ibis’ for 1871, p. 390, where he states, ‘‘ This species is abundant
9
breeding a few miles from Seville. It was the only Heron we saw at the Albufera, of Valencia, where we
found upwards of a dozen pests in a reed-bed on the 29th of May—some with young birds, and others with
eggs in various stages of incubation. The nests were most flimsy structures, being little more than reeds
bent cn a a ele with a few separate pieces added. ‘The complement of eggs in no case
exce three. is ripti nestli 1 i
eded three 1e following is a deseription of the nestling, made on the spot :—Skin and feet yellowish
green, yellow onthe abdomen ; upper mandible greenish horn-colour, lower mandible yellow ; iris pale straw-
yellow; feathers reddish brown ; hairy crest; shafts of feathers lead-blue ; all edged with white down; claws
horn-white. Cry for food, ‘ kick, kick, kick,’ harsher when irritated.”

The occurrence of the Purpl i ; als

| ee ple Heron may probably also be looked for throughout the whole of Africa from
north to south, but of course only in ituati are favour: : : :

a : . - : | — situations as are favourable to its habits—that is, among the rank
vegetation of the Upper Nile and the banks of the river ‘ i
ee PI ee ao the other rivers of that as yet but partially explored country.

ndia 1 1s com é ne i 1 i i i
hase : 0 ce as be ollowing note by Jerdon, in his ‘ Birds of India,’ will testify. ‘ The

urple Heron,” says this author, ‘is y é ; ] istri .

E : y ior, ‘“is very abundant in the well-watered districts of India, frequenting
marshes, reedy ground, rice-fields, and the like, but is rarel er § :
: > y or never seen on the bare and open spots
requented by the Common Heron. It may often be ol ith i

: y often be observed with its head and long neck just protrudi
above the grass, looki arkably lik : ae
grass, looking remarkably like the head of a snake, whi 1
We ee a snake, which has suggested its Telugu name of Snake
: es with a loud harsh cry, which it repe: it fli i a 2
y> peats as it flies along, especially if it has been alarmed.

ni m h h ° 1 1 amo tf o
[ ke most of the other Herons, this species breeds ¢ OFey ar, S e
} ne he large reeds . I hav seen several of its breeding-

places; but its nests were quite inaccessible. It f
é sible. eeds on fish, frogs, &c. It is dope :
Ceylon, extending into Burmah and Malayana.” eee is| found) throughout Tndi and

Mr. Swinhoe infor , :
thoe informs us that the Purple Heron is found in Central China, and states, on the authority of

Temminck, that it frequents the even more eastern country of Japan
C .

There exists so little difference in the outward appear
to distinguish the one from the other,

The Plate represents a fully adult bird in the breeding-plumage, about two

ance of the sexes, that dissection must be resorted to

-thirds of the natural size.