HKEiODIAS. 21 



pale sea-green colour, with here and there scattered over the shell almost invisible white 

 limy incrustations. A set of four taken by Mr. S. Robinson on Buckiinguy Station, 

 on the 8th November, 1893, measure as follows: — Length (A) 1-82 x 1-32 inches; (B) 

 i-8i X 1-2 inches; (C) 1-82 x 1-23 inches; (0)1-83 x i'-9 inches. A set of four eggs in 

 Mr. Thos. P. Austin's collection, taken on the gth November, igo6, near Mathoura, New South 

 Wales, in the vicinity of the southern boundary of the State, measure : — Length (A) 1-87 x 1-35 

 inches; (B) 1-87 x 1-37 inches; (C) i-8i x [-34 inches; (D) 1-84 x 1-35 inches. 



In New South Wales October and the three following months constitute the breeding 

 season of the Plumed Egret. 



Herodias timoriensis. 



LARGE EGRET. 



Ardea timoriensis, Cuv., Mus. Paris. — Less., Traite d'Orn., p. 57.t (1831). 



Hi'rodias syrmalophorns, Gould, Bds. Austr., fol. Vol. VI,, pi. r)r)(lS48). 



Hprndins alba ( nee Linn.), Gould, Handbk. Bds. Austr., Vol. II., p. 301 (180.5). 



Herodias fimorirnsis, Sharpe, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus,, Vol. XXVI,, p. 98 (18'J8) ; id., Hand 1. Bds, 

 Vol. I., p. 19.5 (1S99). 



Adult malk, in breeding plumage. — The entire plumage while, inclnding n number of eloni/ated 

 louse ivebbed hair-like plumei reaching from the centre of the back to sliyhlli/ beijond lite end of the 

 tail ; bill deep yelloiv, broirnisli at tlie tip : skin at the base of the upper mandible and around the. 

 eye greenish-yellow ; legs and feet blnck, the tibia and tarsal joints tiniied with, yellow; iris yellow. 

 Total lengtJi in the flesh ■!■') inches, ?inng Uf'i, tail 5'S, bill Jf:2, tarsns G, some of the longest ornamental 

 plu7nes on the back 13:5. 



Adult fkmale. — .Similar in jilmnngi- to tlie male, hut slightly smaller. 



Distribution. — North-western Australia, Northern Territory of South .-Vustralia, Queensland, 

 New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Central .Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania. 



Tf7\ROBABLY of no bird, inhabiting Australia and Tasmania, has so much diversity of 

 AL opinion e.xisted among authors as to whether it was referrable to the Herodias alba of the 



old world, or whether it was entitled to full and distinct specific recognition, as in the present 

 instance. Gould, who originally figured it in his folio edition of the " Birds of Australia " under 

 the name of Herodias svrmatitplioi'its, refers it back to Herodias alba in his " Handbook of the Birds of 

 Australia." The late Dr. R. B. Sharpe, in the "Catalogue of Birds in the British Museum,"'' 

 describes it under Lesson's older specific name of Herodias timoriensis, remarking of it — ■" Similar 

 to H. alba, but with the bill yellow in summer and winter; the train of dorsal plumes not very 

 long, and scarcely reaching beyond the tail." Writing of Iderodias timoriensis later on in the 

 same volume,! Dr. Sharpe remarks: — " It seems probable that, after all, this species will have 

 to be united to H. alba, as Dr. Steyneger and Taczanowski both give the bill as black." In the 

 Seebohm collection there is also a black-billed specmien from Canton. European writers agree 

 in describing the lull of //. alba as black in summer, yellow in winter. If the large White Heron 

 or Egret of Australia has the bill entirely black at any season of the year, this order is decidedly 

 reversed. On the other hand I have examined freshly shot specimens in the breeding season, 

 and have never seen one with the "entire bill beautiful orange," as described and figured by 



* Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol. XXVI., p. gS (iSgS). t Loc. cit., p. 270 (iSgS). 



