22 ARDEID^, 



Gould in his " Birds of Australia." Certainly the base of the bill might be described as orange, 

 or rich yellow, but in all the specimens under notice the bill had the tip brown, and in some 

 examples it extended along the apical portion of it for some distance, and these were fully adult 

 specimens in breeding plumage, with the long train of white plumes, not young birds. The 

 wing measurement of Australian examples in the Australian Museum Collection, however, are 

 distinctly smaller than those given by Dr. Sharpe of Hcrodias alha, the wing measurement of 

 adult males of //. timoricnsis varying from ly^ to I4'6 inches, and of adult females from 13 to 

 lyq inches. 



The present species may easily be distinguished from Maoplioyx pliniiift-nis and Garzdta 

 nif^iipcs, by its much larger size, and in the breeding season from the former, with which it is 

 frecjuently associated, by the abscence of the long filamentous plumes on the foreneck,and from 

 the latter by being destitute of the two elongated plumes on the nape, and of the lengthened 

 attenuate feathers on the lower portion of the foreneck. As in the preceding species (Mcsot>lwyx 

 plnwifii'us) the long train of dorsal plumes is only assumed in the breeding season, and is lost 

 during the winter months. 



The Large Egret or White Heron is generally distributed in favourable situations over the 

 greater portion of the Australian Continent, and it is likewise found in Tasmania. It has been 

 recorded by writers from all of the Australian States; sometimes it is met with singly, or in 

 pairs, but in the nesting season they associate together and breed in large heronries. In New 

 South Wales the Macquarie Marshes, and Hooded areas in this locality and Kiverina, in the 

 neighbourhood of the Murray Riser, are well known breeding resorts, and Mr. II. K. Elvery 

 refers to another on an island in Tuckiana Swamp, on the Richmond River, in the North Coast 

 District. Although these birds breed in great numbers in some seasons, many years may elapse 

 before they breed at the same places again, and when they do it is very frequently in company with 

 M csoplioyx plwiiiferns. Like that species its train of dorsal plumes, known to the plumassiers as 

 " ospreys," is in great request for the personal adornment of the fair sex, consequently a great 

 number are slaughtered during the breeding season. Harried, too, by the indiscriminate Oologist, 

 who is just as anxious to rob them of as many sets of their eggs as can be obtained, the lot of the 

 Large Egret and its congeners during the breeding season cannot be described as a happy one. 

 Oologists should be the last to cast a stone at the opposite sex for wearing plumes, for they are 

 equally if not more culpable, for if many of them had their way there would soon be no birds 

 left to rob of their plumes. The pity of it is, that though this is done, they seek to conceal their 

 own faults by loudly denouncing the plume-gatherers and the subse(]uent innocent wearers of 

 them. All species of Egrets in New South Wales are wisely included in the schedules of the 

 " Bird Protection Act," and the destruction of these birds, or taking of their eggs, can only be 

 done at the risk of incurring a heavy penalty for each offence. 



It chiefly fre(]uents the margins of rivers, billabong^, creeks, reed-beds and lagoons ; also 

 the estuaries of rivers in the coastal districts. The purity of its immaculate white plumage 

 renders it an even more conspicuous object than if it was adorned in the most brilliant colours. 

 Probably this makes the bird so shy, wary and difficult of approach at any other time except 

 the breeding season. Nearly all the specimens presented to the Trustees of the Australian 

 Museum, were accompanied by notes stating that it was the only bird of the species seen, and 

 was difficult to get at within shooting range. On the other hand I have seen one of these birds at 

 Liverpool, on the muddy margin of a small pool, so intent on the capture of its prey as to remain 

 motionless while a train passed at full speed not fifty yards away. Solitary individuals, or 

 pairs, frequently remain for a long time in a neighbourhood if undisturbed. 



The stomachs of specimens examined contained more or less perfect fish fry, frogs, aquatic 

 insects and small crustaceans. 



