20 



ALTRICIAL GRALLATORES — HERODIONES/ 



Ardea rhenana, Sander. Naturf. XIII. 1779, 195. 

 Ardea Johanna; Gmel. S. N. I. ii. 1788, 629. 

 Ardca cineracca, Buehm, Vog. Deutsclil. 1831, 580. 

 Ardea vulgaris, Bechst. Orn. Tasch. 1803, 255. 

 Ardea brag, Geoff. Jacq. Yoy. Ind. IV. 1844, 85. 

 Ardea leiicop/uca, GouLU, P. Z. S. 1848, 58. 



Ardea cinerea major, minor, media, et bracliyrlujnclia, Brehm, Verz. Sarainl. C. L. Brelim's, 1866, 

 12 {Reiclienow. ). 



Hah. Palaearctic region, south to Australia ; accidental in Southern Greenland. 



Sp. Char. Adult : Forehead and centre of pileum pure white ; sides of crowri and occipital 

 plumes deep black ; rest of head wholly white. Neck light cinereous, with a very faint lavender 

 tinge, gradually fading into the white of the head ; the front part with a narrow longitudinal series 



of black dashes on a white ground. Upper parts bluish-gray, the penicillate plumes of the back 

 and scapulars much lighter or pale pearl-gray. Border of the wing jnue white ; anteaxillar tufts 

 deep blue-black. Sides and flanks uniform pale blue-gray. Medial lower parts white, heavily 

 striped laterally with blue-black. Tibise and crissum pure white. Bill yellow, usually with the 

 culmen brownish terminally ; bare loral space green ; iris yellow ; feet dull green ; tibiaj yellow. 

 (Macgillivray.) Juv. : Pileum deep ash-gray ; occipital plumes black. Neck ash-gray, the 

 front with a narrow longitudinal series of black and rufous dashes, mixed with white, the former 

 predominating. Upper parts uniform slate-gray, destitute of penicillate plumes. Malar region, 

 chin, and tlinjat white. Anteaxillar tufts white, tipped with a rusty tinge. Edge of the wing and 

 entire lower parts wholly white, tinged with buff'. 



Wing, 18.50 ; tail, 8.00 ; culmen, 4.80 ; depth of bill through middle of nostril, 0.85 ; bare 

 tibia, 3.25 ; tarsus, 6.25 ; middle toe, 3.80. [No. 57006 ; Europe.] 



The Common or Gray Heron of Europe has small claim to a place in the fauna of 

 North America. Two specimens are recorded as having been known in Greenland, — 

 one, seen in August, 1765, by the missionary Stach ; the other, a young bird found 

 dead near Nenortalik in 1856. It is a familiar European species, as also one of the 

 most numerous of this peculiar and well-marked family. 



Formerly, before falconry had become one of the lost arts, it was the typical 

 Heron of olden times, and occupied an important place in the sporting world. The 



