118 Mr. E. Blyth on the Ornithology of the neighbourhood of 



from Nepal I have received a third closely- allied species, the H. atro- 

 gularis of Eyton, but which will bear the prior name of plumbipes, 

 Hodgson, published in 1837, and which abounds in the Tenasserim 

 provinces, and also in the vicinity of Singapore. There are two 

 other Bengal species, additional also to Dussumieri ; one of them the 

 Turnix tanki of Buchanan, which likewise inhabits Nepal, and the 

 other undescribed, which Mr. Jerdon has also obtained in the south. 

 I believe that he has yet another Indian species of this group, col- 

 lected by Lord Arthur Hay. 



No. 171 a, Add Gallus bankiva, brought to me fresh from the 

 vicinity. 



No. 173 et seq. Herons, Bitterns, &c. Add Ardea nobilis, nobis, 

 and Botaurus sinensis (Ardea sinensis, Lath., and A. lepida, Horsf.); 

 I have also obtained two other specimens of Botaurus stellaris, and 

 likewise the B. flavicollis {Ardea flavicollis, Lath., and A. nigra, 

 Vieillot). 



The Indian white Egrets are difficult to understand. There are 

 three sizes of them, of which the smallest is the common A. gar- 

 zetta, which is very abundant. The A. orientalis of Hardwicke's pub- 

 lished drawings may, I suspect, be safely referred to this species, 

 although the beak is represented to be wholly black, and the toes 

 are coloured much too orange instead of greenish yellow. This 

 species always sheds its crest prior to dropping its dorsal plumes ; 

 and the colour of its toes, contrasting with its black tarsi, at once 

 distinguishes it. 



The large white Egrets have, at all ages, the bill sometimes 

 orange-yellow, sometimes wholly black, and sometimes the basal 

 part of the bill is yellow and its terminal part black, varying in pro- 

 portions. In one fine adult before me, with a fully developed train, 

 the bill is about half yellow and half black ; in another there is a 

 yellowish ring only near the base ; and I have observed the same 

 differences in birds of the first year. The yellow-billed specimens 

 constitute the A.flavirostris, Wagler, and the black-billed are pro- 

 bably the A. modesta, Gray, though I have never seen the train 

 elongated as in Hardwicke's figure*. 



Of the third size, which is intermediate, I once had several dozens 

 of the young brought me, all of which had yellow bills, slightly 

 tipped with dusky-black ; what few adults (with dorsal trains) I have 

 seen had the bill wholly yellow, with one exception only, wherein 

 the terminal two-thirds are black ; and the A. nigrirostris of Hard- 

 wicke and Gray appears to represent a specimen with bill wholly 

 black. In the Egrets of this size, the wings measure 11 or 1 11 inches 

 in length, bill to forehead 3 in., tarsi 4^ in., the claws straighter and 

 more elongated than in the great Egrets. The yellow-billed speci- 

 mens constitute the A. putea, Buch. Hamilton MS. 



The members of this group are now putting forth their nuptial 



* What are the measurements of these large Indian Egrets ? and do all 

 the varieties referred to present the same dimensions ? The Egrets of South- 

 ern Europe are almost as puzzling as those of India, and we shall look with 

 interest for any light which Mr. Blyth can throw upon them. — H. E. S. 



