Night heron (_Nycticorax griseus_).--This heron has a range almost as extensive as that of the barn-owl, and breeds in many localities throughout the continent of Europe. The question as to whether or not it has ever bred in England has not been settled; but it is now an almost annual spring and autumn visitor to our country, and it is hardly to be doubted that it would breed with us if unmolested, or, in other words, allowed to live. American bittern (_Botaurus lentiginosus_).--A few examples of this North American bittern have been obtained in this country. * * * * * Two other families in the present order (Herodiones) are represented by occasional visitors in the list of British birds--two storks (Ciconiidæ), and a spoonbill, and an ibis (Platalaidæ):-- White stork (_Ciconia alba_).--Common in Holland, and an occasional visitor to the east coast of England. Black stork (_Ciconia nigra_).--A rare straggler from continental Europe. Spoonbill (_Platalea leucorodia_).--Now an occasional straggler to Great Britain; formerly a regular breeder in heronries in several localities in England. Glossy ibis (_Plegadis falcinellus_).--A very rare straggler from Southern Europe. Grey Lag Goose. Anser cinereus. [Illustration: FIG. 75.--GREY LAG GOOSE. ¹⁄₁₄ natural size.] Head, neck, and upper parts greyish brown; lower breast and abdomen dull white with a few black spots; bluish grey rump and wing-coverts; bill flesh-coloured, with a white nail at the tip; legs and feet flesh-coloured. Length, thirty-five inches. * * * * * Eight species of geese are counted among British birds; two of these--the snow-goose (_Chen albatus_) and the red-breasted goose (_Bernicla ruficollis_)--may be dismissed at once as rare stragglers to the British Islands. The other six are all winter visitors to our coasts, and are divisible into two natural groups--the grey geese (counting four species), all large birds, brownish grey in colour, and feeders on land; and the black, or dark-coloured geese (two species), very dark in colour, very much smaller in size, and feeders on the tidal flats. The grey lag is the largest species in the first group, and the only goose that breeds within the limits of the United Kingdom. It was formerly a common summer resident, and bred in the eastern counties of England; it is now confined as a breeding species to a few localities in Scotland and the Hebrides, and in all these last refuges it is said to be rapidly diminishing. That it will diminish still further, until the vanishing-point is reached, hardly admits of a doubt. As a winter migrant from northern Europe it will long continue to visit our coasts, and as a domestic bird we shall have it always with us; for the grey lag is supposed to be the species from which our familiar bird has descended.