. An illustrated manual of British birds . rtugal, on the inaccessible summit of which itappeared to be breeding, in company with some Gulls. describes this Egret as being very noisy, and uttering anote of alarm or defiance resembling the syllables ak, ark, and food consists of small fishes, aquatic insects, frogs and worms. The adult in spring and summer has the beak black ; lores ■lavender; irides varying from yellow to pale lavender; the entireplumage pure white ; crest of two long narrow feathers; someelongated plumes at the bottom of the neck in front; dorsal plumesgrea
. An illustrated manual of British birds . rtugal, on the inaccessible summit of which itappeared to be breeding, in company with some Gulls. describes this Egret as being very noisy, and uttering anote of alarm or defiance resembling the syllables ak, ark, and food consists of small fishes, aquatic insects, frogs and worms. The adult in spring and summer has the beak black ; lores ■lavender; irides varying from yellow to pale lavender; the entireplumage pure white ; crest of two long narrow feathers; someelongated plumes at the bottom of the neck in front; dorsal plumesgreatly lengthened and filamentous ; legs mostly black, yellowish onthe lower portions of the feet. For some time after the autumnmoult the dorsal and occipital plumes are absent, and the legs andfeet are nearly black. Length 25 in.; wing it25 in. Females arerather smaller than males : but Mr. J. H. Gurney jun. says that theplumes are sometimes equally developed. Young birds have agreyish tinge, and no elongated plumes. ARDEID/E. 3^r^ _^^p7. THE BUFF-BACKED HERON. Ardea bubulcus, Audouin. A young Buff-backed Heron, which proved on dissection to be afemale, was shot towards the end of October 1805 near Kingsbridgein Devonshire, where it had been seen for several days in the samefield, following some cows, and picking up insects ; it was by nomeans shy, and was fired at a second time before it was occurrence was recorded by Montagu, to whom the specimenwas presented by Nicholas Luscombe, of Kingsbridge, and itis still (1888) preserved in the Natural History Museum at SouthKensington. No other authenticated British-killed example is knownto exist. The Buff-backed Heron is essentially a southern bird ; and anadult male, shot on the Obedska bara, on May 29th 1883, isrecorded by Mr. W. E. Clarke as the first instance known inHungary; while on the Danube, as in Poland and SouthernRussia, it is extremely rare. Even in the south of France, Italy, Sicily,Malta and Greece it is
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, bookidillustra, booksubjectbirds
