454 ARDEA PURPUREA. 



the dorsal line ascending and slightly convex, the sides con- 

 cave and ascending, the edges direct, the tip acuminate. 

 The gape-line straight, commencing below the eye, and a 

 little declinate at first. A large bare space on each side 

 from the bill to behind the eye. 



Nostrils Linear, ten-twelfths of an inch long. Eyes small. 

 The legs long and slender ; the tibia feathered for more than 

 half its length, scutellate before and behind ; tarsus long, 

 rather stout, a little compressed, with about twenty anterior 

 scutella, the sides and hind part with large scales ; toes long, 

 slender ; the first large, with eighteen scutella ; the second a 

 little shorter than the fourth, with twenty-four ; the third 

 with forty ; the fourth with thirty-eight, and connected with 

 the third by a basal web. Claws long, very slender, a little 

 arched, compressed, acuminate, that of the middle toe with 

 upwards of thirty teeth. 



On the upper part of the head the feathers tapering, and 

 forming a short occipital crest ; on the neck short, unless at 

 its lower part, where they are elongated, tapering, with loose 

 filaments. On the fore part of the back ovate, behind short 

 and downy. Four tufts of elongated feathers on the back ; 

 the two middle shorter than the outer ; all ovato-oblong, but 

 with the filaments, although numerous, disunited toward the 

 end. Behind the lateral tufts are elongated scapulars of 

 ordinary structure. On the fore part of the breast and along 

 its middle the feathers are very long, curved, with loose 

 filaments. On the middle of the breast anteriorly is a large 

 space covered with short, buff-coloured, down-plumelets ; 

 and there is a smaller patch of the same nature, on each 

 side, behind the thigh-joint. The wings are long, broad, of 

 twenty-six quills, besides the humerals ; the inner secon- 

 daries as long as the outer primaries when the wing is 

 closed ; the second, third, and fourth quills about equal ; the 

 first a little shorter. The tail is short, even, of twelve 

 feathers. 



The bill is bright yellow, with the ridge brown ; the bare 

 preocular space yellow ; the bare part of the tibia, the hind 

 part of the tarsus, and the soles yellow ; the rest brown ; the 

 claws black. The upper part of the head and a line from 



