114 NOTES ON ARDEA WUERDEMANNI. 



agree iu the darker, more plumbeous, shade of the gray, that of the 

 last uamed being of a much lighter or more ashy shade; herodias ami 

 wardi agr^e also in the pattern of coloration of the head (which has the 

 whole forehead and center of crown immaculate pure white, the occiput 

 and sides of crown to considerably in front of the eye deep black) ; in 

 having the epaulets or shoulder-knots entirely black (or, rarely, nar- 

 rowly streaked with white), and in having the lower wing-coverts uni- 

 form gray ; in having the breast, belly, and anal region black, striped 

 with white, chiefly along the median line. A. ivucrdemaimi , on the 

 other hand, has the head white,^usually more or less streaked on the 

 forehead with black or dusky, and sometimes, though very rarely, with 

 more or less of a blackish patch or space on sides of crown, beneath edge 

 of the crest, all the feathers of which are white ; the snoulder-knots are 

 broadly striped with white, and tinged more or less with rusty ; the 

 lowermost wing-coverts (near edge of wing) have more or less of their 

 outer webs white and are often tinged with rusty ; the breast, belly, 

 and anal region are white, the last entirely so and the other two streaked 

 or narrowly striped with black or brownish gray, even these markings 

 being sometimes wanting. I have never seen in specimens of herodias 

 or icardi any tinge or admixture of rusty on the sides of the neck, which 

 is frequently seen in wuerdetnanni, nor is the white wedge-shaped space 

 on basal portion of outer web of outer tail-feather nearly so extensive, 

 if, indeed, it be at all developed. 



What relationship Ardea wuerdemanni bears to A. occidentalis and A. 

 icardi the material examined does little toward elucidating. It would 

 seem to be a permanent form, however, and, if not a color-phase of A. 

 occidentalis, is probably a distinct species. It has been met with by Mr. 

 C. J. Maynard, who, in his "Birds of Eastern North America"* (pp. 

 407, 408), mentions it as follows: 



"The Florida Herons have long been a puzzle to ornithologists, but 

 that such a species exists is now proved beyond a doubt, though they 

 are far from being common, and are, I believe, restricted to the Florida 

 Keys, or, at best, are mere stragglers on the mainland ; but I do not 

 think that a well-authenticated specimen has ever been taken there, 

 those which are considered this species being merely Great Blue Herons, 

 with dark streaks on the forehead for at least two instances of this 

 kind have come under my notice. Some writers on the subject are 

 inclined to dispose of the Florida Herons by considering them merely 

 a plumage of the Great White, but I greatly fear that such conclusions 

 rest too much upon purely theoretical grounds. It is true that it has 

 been alleged that birds of both species have been found in one nest, 



* The Birds | of | Eastern North America; | with original descriptions | of all the 

 species which occur | East of the Mississippi Rivei-, | between the | Arctic Circle and 

 the Gulf of Mexico, | with full notes upon their habits, etc., j by | C. J. Maynard; | 

 containing | Thirty-two plates drawn en stone by the Author. | Revised edition. | New- 

 tonville, Mass.: I C. J. Maynard & Co. | 1881. | [Quarto; title-page, pp. iii-iv, 1— 

 532, 3 colored steel plates, 29 colored lithographic plates.] 



