24 BULLETIN 15 3, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



and average somewhat longer wings than the latter. The breeding 

 plumage of idae is said to be pure white, as shown in Grandidier's 

 great work on the natural history of Madagascar. (PI. 226.) Hart- 

 ert ^° remarks that the specimen on which this plate was based should 

 be examined lest the identification may be wrong. Sharpe ^^ exam- 

 ined some herons from Madagascar and found that two species had 

 been confounded under, " * * * the heading of * * * idae. 

 A white bird in breeding plumage, in Professor Newton's collection, 

 agrees very well with the plate of the adult A. idae in the ' Historic 

 Naturelle de Madagascar,' " and he " * * * can not see why the 

 bird is not Garzetta garzetta.'''' 



In response to an inquiry of mine regarding the white heron 

 labeled idae^ on which Grandidier's plate was based, and which is 

 now in the Paris Museum, M. Berlioz has very kindly informed me 

 that the specimen in question is certainly not an example of Egretta 

 garzetta. Whether it is an albino Ardeola or something else is not 

 clear, but it appears to be a normal bird. Fortunately for our pres- 

 ent interest, it is not the type, so its correct identification, while 

 desirable, in no way affects the nomenclature of the Madagascan 

 squacco heron. However, M. Berlioz noted that there were some 

 dark feathers in the back of one of the white birds in the Paris 

 Museum. Doctor Cliapin has examined the series with which I have 

 had to work, and writes me that, " * * * the conclusion at which 

 I have arrived is that Ardeola ralloides is probably not divisible 

 into races; that it inhabits the island of Madagascar as well as the 

 continent of Africa. Ardeola idae., on the other hand, is a distinct 

 species, with considerable resemblance to ralloides w^hen young, but 

 becoming nearly pure white when adult. This was the belief of 

 Milne-Edwards. It is supported by the fact that Berlioz found ves- 

 tiges of dark-colored feathers in the back of one of the white speci- 

 mens in the Paris Museum, and, finally, it is proved by the specimen 

 in the Museum of Comparative Zoology, a male, No. 7T447. This 

 bird is molting and the new feathers coming in on the crown and 

 sides of the neck are buffy white, with no trace of dark markings. 

 On the nape there are about eight narrow, pointed feathers, not yet 

 fully grown, but pure white. On the lower foreneck there is a patch 

 of new white feathers growing out, with decomposed webs; also, on 

 the back, new feathers are appearing, buffy white in color, with 

 decomposed webs. This bird, in another month or so, would have 

 been white, with a buffy wash on the crown and the back, but this 

 buff tinge might quickly bleach out, so that the bird would look 

 white." An adult in the United States National Museum, recorded 



soVog. pal. Fauna, p. 1247. 



»> Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. 2G, 1898, p. 207. 



