Gould advised '...to view the bird in all its beauty, my readers must visit the Little Egret in one of its native homes - a swamp or a wet and gloomy morass; for there among the green-tinted weeds and other acquatic plants, he will see it to the greatest advantage, and be astonished at the extreme elegance and lightness...the spotless purity of its plumage, and the gracefulness of the flowing hair-like feathers with which its back is adorned... Mr F du Cane Godman saw some examples in a collection at Terceira, one of the Azores, which were said to be killed in that island.'

The adult birds, slightly less than lifesize, are depicted in summer plumage.

DISTRIBUTION: Breeds from Iberia and northwest Africa through the Mediterranean eastwards to southern Asia and Australia; also in southern Africa. Majority of European population winters in Africa south of the Sahara to the equator. Rare vagrant to Britain, most in spring, and have increased recently