ARDEHLE THE HERONS. 120* 



Total length, about 20.00-^7.25; expanse of wings, about 36.00-40.00; wing, 8.20-10.50; tail, 

 3.00-4.80; culmen, 2.08-3.05; depth of bill, .40-. 55; tarsus, 3.15-4.50; middle toe, 2.20-3.20; bare 

 portion of tibia, 1.70-2.75; weight, about 10-14 ounces. 



This beautiful egret occurs during summer in various parts 

 of the State, but probably not abundantly except in the more 

 southern portions. 



SUBGENUS Dichromanassa KIDGWAY. 



Dichromanassa RIDGW. Bull. U. S. Geol. & Geog. Survey, Terr, iv, No. 1, Feb. 5, 1878, 246. 

 Type, Ardea rufa Bodd., A. rufescens GMEL. 



SUBGEN. CHAK. Medium-sized Herons, of uniform white or plumbeous plumage, with 

 (adult) or without (young) cinnamon-colored head and neck; the form slender, the toes very 

 short, and the legs very long; the adults with the entire head and neck (except throat and 

 foreneck) covered with long, narrowly lanceolate, compactly webbed feathers, which on the 

 occiput form an ample crest, the feathers of which are very narrowly lanceolate an<l 

 decurved. 



Bill much longer than the middle toe (about two thirds the tarsus), the upper and lower 

 outlines almost precisely similar in contour, being nearly parallel along the middle portion, 

 where slightly approximated; the terminal portion of both culmen and gonys gently and 

 about eaually curved. Mental apex extending to a little more than one third the distance 

 from the middle of the eye to the tip of the bill, or to about even with the anterior end of 

 the nostril; malar apex about even with that of the frontal feathers. Toes very short, the 

 middle one less than half the tarsus, the hallux less than half the middle toe; bare portion 

 of tibia more than half as long as tarsus; scutellation of tarsus, etc., as in Herodlas, Gar- 

 zetta, and allied subgenera. 



Plumes of the adult consisting of a more or less lengthened train of fastigiate, stiff- 

 shafted feathers, with long, loose, and straight plumules, and extending beyond the tail; in 

 addition to this train, the scapulars and the feathers of the whole head and neck, except the 

 throat and foreneck, are long and narrow, distinctly lanceolate, and acuminate, with com- 

 pact webs, and on the occiput are developed into an ample decurved crest. 







There is only one species belonging to this subgenus, the di- 

 chromatic Ardea rufescens GMEL., the white phase of which was 

 formerly considered a distinct species, under the name of Peale's 

 Egret (Ardea pealei BONAP.). 



Ardea rufescens Gmel. 



REDDISH EGRET. 



Popular synonyms. Russet Egret ; Peale's Egret. 



f 



a. Colored Phase. 



L' Aigrette rousse, de la Louisiane BUFF. PI. Enl. 1777-1784, pi. 902 (adult). 



Ardea rufa BODD. (nee SCOP. 1769) Tabl. P. E. 1783, 54 (based on PI. Enl. 902). COUES. Key. 



1872, 268; Check List, 1873, No. 455. REICHENOW, J. f. 0. 1877, 269. A. O. U. Check List, 



1886, No. 198. RIDGW. Man. N. Am. B. 1887, 131. 

 Demiegretta rufa BAIRD. Birds N. Am. 1858.6G2; Cat. N. Am. B. 1859, No. 483. 



