Volume 34, Plate IV / Ornithology (Birds)

Little Egret

Egretta garzetta

Confined to the Old World and ranging chiefly over Southern Europe, Greece, and Northern Africa, the Little Egret strays only rarely to British shores, with six accepted captures recorded. Its plumage is entirely pure white, with two narrow four-inch plumes springing from the hind-head and loose hair-like plumes from the centre of the back, the bill and tarsi black, and the bird measuring some twenty to twenty-two inches.