1S87.] PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 319 



that it is difficult to point out a structural character which will separate 

 the two forms at all seasons. The measurements given by Swinhoe 

 would seem to furnish such characters, but Schlegel {I.e.) has recorded 

 the dimensions of another Formosan specimen collected by Mr. Swin- 

 hoe, which throw doubt on the accuracy of the former and on their value 

 as distinctive characters.* 



Mr. A. Hume [1. c), in his '' Key to the Whitts Herons of India," is 

 under the impression that H. eidopliotes has the dorsal plumes of ex- 

 actly the same structure as those of lower end of the fore neck, and 

 Swinhoe's description of 1860 certainly justifies such an impression. 

 But the wording of this author's remarks in his two papers in 1863, 

 quoted in the synonymy above, is less explicit in this respect, and 1 

 have reasons to believe that in reality the fully developed dorsal plumes 

 are quite decomposed, though considerably less so than in H. garzetta. 



Smithsonian Institution, March 30, 1887. 



* The dimensions of a male collected April, 1862, in Formosa are given by Schlegel 

 as follows : Wing, 10 inches [Pied du Roi, 271™™] ; tail, 3 inches 1 line [84""™] ; tarsus, 

 3 inches 4 lines [90™™] ; naked portion of tibia, 2 inches [54™™] ; middle toe, 2 inches 

 1 line [54™™] ; bill, 3 inches 2 lines [86™™] ; nuchal plumes, 3 to 4 inches [80 to 108™™]. 



