471 



EGRETTA GARZETTA. LITTLE WHITE EGRET. 



Ardea Garzetta. Linn. Syst. Nat. I. 937. 



Ardea Garzetta. Lath. Ind. Orn. II. 694. 



Egret. Mont. Orn. Diet. 



Ardea Garzetta. Flem. Brit. Anim. 96. 



Heron Garzette. Ardea Garzetta. Tenrm. Man. d'Orn. II. 574. 



Ardea Garzetta. "Wagler, Syst. Avium. 



Little Egret Heron. Ardea Garzetta. Selb. Illustr. II. 21. 



Ardea Garzetta. Little Egret Heron. Jen. Brit. Vert. Anim. 187. 



Egretta Garzetta. Bonap. Comp. List. 47. 



Length about two feet ; plumage soft and blended; occi- 

 pital feathers considerably elongated; three of them very long, 

 slender, tapering, compact ; those of the lower part of the 

 neck similarly elongated and tapering; dorsal plumes with 

 the shaft very slender, straight, recurved at the end; plumage 

 white; bill black; bare preoadar space green; bare part of 

 tibia and upper half of tarsus black; lower part and toes 

 greenish-yellow. Young white, without occipital or dorsal 

 plumes; the bill yellow for more than half its length. 



Male. — This beautiful Egret, which is inferior in size to 

 Egretta russata, is of a very slender form, having the body 

 much compressed, the neck very long and slender, the head 

 rather small, oblong, and much compressed. The bill is 

 about double the length of the head, straight, rather slender, 

 tapering ; the upper mandible with the dorsal line straight 

 for three-fourths from the base, then slightly declinate- 

 convex ; the ridge narrow, unless at the base ; the nasal 

 depression narrow, elongated, with a groove from its fore 

 part extending nearly to a third from the tip; the sides 

 convex ; the edges inflected and sharp, with a notch close 

 to the narrow, rather blunt tip ; lower mandible with the 

 angle long and extremely narrow, the dorsal line straight 



