Page:The Zoologist, 1st series, vol 1 (1843).djvu/107

Rh The specimen of the Cassian heron from which the following description is taken, was caught alive on the broads near Ormesby ( near Yarmouth, Norfolk), in high condition, about the year 1820 or 1821. After having been kept alive for two days, it was killed, the proper mode of feeding it not being known, and the skin was stuffed. The bird was a male, about 16j inches in length; the bill is 2½ inches long, and shaped like that of the common heron; for about an inch downwards from the tip it is black, from thence yellow gradually deepening into black to the base: the opening of the nostril is long, narrow and black. The bill opens directly under the eyes, which are yellow: the back of the head is a reddish yellow, beautifully variegated with black streaks running down the neck, and becoming fainter till they entirely cease at the back, which is covered with long hairlike reddish yellow feathers, in the same manner as the back of the egret, which give the bird a very elegant appearance. The wings are white, with the exception of the ends of the quill feathers, which are of a light brown colour: from the back of the head grow seven or eight feathers, each between five and six inches long; these feathers are white fringed with black; they are rather more than a quarter of an inch in breadth at the base, and taper gradually to the end, the whole forming a very beautiful plume. The chin of this bird is white, and the under parts a faint yellow. The legs are rather short when compared with those of other herons. Excepting this one and a bad specimen in the British Museum, no birds of this kind have ever been found in England. The breast-bone of this bird when taken out was found to be exceedingly small, not bigger than a lark's; it is now unfortunately lost.—E.W. Dowell; Jesus College, Cambridge, February 3, 1843.

Note on the occurrence of Birds lately ascertained to be British. The latest additions to the catalogue of our British birds are the following six.1. Savi's warbler (Sylvia luscinioides, Savi). Two specimens of this warbler, obtained in the fens of Cambridgeshire, are now in the British Museum; they were noticed by Mr. Geo. R. Gray, in the 'Annals of Natural History,' vi. 155. Joseph Clarke, Esq., of Saffron Walden, has also obtained one or more examples of this species, which are placed in the Museum at Saffron Walden.2. Dalmatian Regulus, (Regulus modestus, Gould). A single specimen of this very rare bird was shot near Hartley, on the coast of Northumberland, by Mr. John Hancock, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, as recorded in the 'Annals of Natural History,' ii. 310.3. White wagtail, (Motacilla alba, Linn.) Since Mr. Gould published his observations,