BUFF-BACKED EGRET. 475 



both in its proportions, in which it conies near to Ardea 

 speciosa, the adult of this species may be described as having 

 the body moderate, the neck long and rather thick, the head 

 ovato-oblong. The bill is about a fourth longer than the 

 head, rather stout, straight, compressed, tapering; upper 

 mandible with the dorsal line straight until toward the end, 

 when it becomes considerably decurved, the sides convex, 

 the groove extending to a fifth from the end ; the edges 

 sharp, serrulate ; the tip acute ; the lower mandible with 

 the angle very long and extremely narrow, the dorsal line 

 very slightly ascending, the sides concave, the edges sharp 

 and serrulate, the tip acuminate, the gape-line slightly 

 arched. 



The feet, although long and slender, are much shorter 

 than those of some other species of about the same size, 

 Egretta candidissima, for example. The bare part of the 

 tibia is also scutellate in front, it being reticulate in most 

 species ; the tarsus has very broad anterior scutella ; the 

 toes are long, slender, scutellate ; the claws long, very 

 slender, tapering, compressed, arcuate ; that of the middle 

 toe serrate. 



The plumage is soft and moderately full. The feathers 

 on the upper part of the head, nape, and the hind part of the 

 neck are elongated, with stifnsh, hair-like glossy filaments ; 

 and there is a bare space at the base of the neck behind. On 

 the fore part of the neck the feathers are moderate, but at the 

 lower part enlarged, with the filaments disunited toward the 

 end. On the breast and behind the thighs are yellow greasy 

 down-plumelets, as in the other species. From the back 

 arise four series of plumes, having disunited hair-like fila- 

 ments, some of them extending nearly to the end of the tail. 

 The other feathers on the fore part of the back are ovate, 

 those on its hind part downy. The wings are long and 

 broad; the third quill longest, the second half-a-twelfth 

 shorter, and exceeding the first by only two-twelfths. The 

 tail is a little emarginate, the lateral feathers being a twelfth 

 and a half longer than those in the middle. The wings 

 when folded are slightly longer than the tail, which is short 

 and slightly emarginate. 



