2!s Aiu>Kii)it;. 



tnos/, secotuliiriis iikf //(»' hack : flu' oiih'r, /I'sser mid infihan ciji-t'its iitiil tlf <•(/</»• »/ tin' iriiii/ ir/n/f : 

 mmaindi'r of /In' i/ni//s ilurk lilnisli-hlnrk ; tiiiJ-f''at/ifrs liliiis/i-lilark (jlossid with yrei'n : fiilin' hcnd 

 niiil iii'i'k irliili', inislit'd iri/h i/elJo'i'isli-bulf', lauri' diKlrncf on thf croivn of thf. head, iiape and liiml- 

 Hi'ck, xoiii.f of till' fi-atlii'i-a on, the centre of the neck nnlli. h/ackish lipx ; jihniu'ti on the loire)- fnrr-neck 

 icliite, more or les.i n^anhed ivilh yeUoici!ih-bii[f or n'Inty-bron'n, nml concenliuij some dull pnrplish-red 

 feathers on the upper portion of tin' chest : sides of the body dark sliite colour ; remainder of the iiiider 

 surface and under tail-corerts more of a dusky slaty-grey, each feather tinth a broad continnons streak 

 of '!vhit,e down the ceiitre : hill black, the longer half of nnder mandible, except the tip, fJeshy-yellow ; 

 legs and feet black, upper part of tibia nlire-yellinr : iris yellon: Total lenqth 'lu the flesli .SO inches, 

 n-ini) l-rli, tail 7 , hill .!:', tarstis -'j'^o. 



Adult femalp:. — Similar in plumage to the male. 



Distribntion. — Xorth-western Australia, Northern Territory of South Australia, Oueensland, 

 New South Wales, X'ictoria, South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania. 



;p 



ROM the late Dr. R. Bowdler Sharpe's " History of the Collections in the British 

 Museum,"' it maybe learned that Latham's original description of Ardcn pacifca, in 



his " Index Ornithologicus," wasfoundedon one 

 of Watling's paintings executed between 1788 

 and 1792, in the early days of settlement of 

 New South Wales, and this Hgure now con- 

 stitutes the type of the species. Watling 

 apparently not indicating on his figure the size 

 of this species, will account for the following 

 remark of Latham's in his "Supplement to 

 the General Synopsis of Birds," in describing 

 the Pacific Heron, on which the Avdca pacifica 

 of his " Index Ornithologicus " is founded : — 

 "The size of this species is uncertain, though 

 we believe it not to be a small one." 



The range of the Pacific Heron extends in 

 favourable situations over the greater portion 

 of the Australian continent; it likewise inhabits 

 Tasmania, but there it is looked upon as an 

 extremely rare species. In New South Wales, 

 while it is abundant inland, it is seldom seen 

 near the coast. During a visit to Narrabri, in 

 North-western New South Wales, in iSgfi, I 

 observed numbers of these birds in the trees 

 that fringe the banks of the Namoi River, and 

 the above description is taken from a fine old 

 male obtained by Mr. G. Packham, of that town, on the 26th October, iSgfS. Margins of rivers, 

 creeks and lagoons are its favourite haunts, situations which afford it an abundant supply of 

 small fish, reptiles, fresh water molluscs, frogs, and aquatic insects, which constitute its food. 

 For the purpose of breeding it resorts usually to timber standing in flood waters, or growing in 

 the beds of creeks, many birds nesting in company, and also in that of the Spoonbill, White 

 Egret, and Little Black and White Cormorant. The late Mr. K. H. Bennett found one of these 

 heronries in the Lower Lachlan District, and Mr. S. Robinson one on Buckiinguy Station, on 

 the Macquarie River, New South Wales. 



PACIFIC HERON. 



* Hist. Coll Brit. Mus. (Bds.), p 147 (1905). 



