658 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — HEBODIONES— HERODII. 



ciduous feathers of which in the breeding season are long and filamentous; long loose feathers 

 on the lower neck. Length 42.00-50.00; extent about 70.00 ; wing 18.00-20.00; tail 7-00- 

 8.00; bill 4.50-6.25, usually between 5.00 and 6.00; tibiae bare 3.00-4.00; tarsus 6.00-8.00, 

 usually 6.50-7.00 ; middle toe and claw about 5.00. 9 average smaller than $. Weight 6 or 

 8 lbs. Adult $ 'i , in breeding dress : Bill yellow, more or less blackened on culmen ; lores 

 blue ; iris chrome-yellow ; legs and feet blackish, the soles yellowish. Tibia and edge of wing 

 chestnut-brown. Forehead and middle of crown white; sides of croA^n and occipital crest 

 black. Neck pale purplish-gray, with a mixed white, black, and rusty throat-line, yielding 

 to white on chin and cheeks. Plumes of lower neck, the breast, and belly, black, more or less 

 interrupted with white streaks on the middle line ; crissum white. Upper parts in general 

 slaty-blue ; tail the same ; long scapular feathers more pearly-gray ; wing-quills deepening 

 fi'om this color to the black primaries. Young : Without any long feathers. Crown and front 

 without white ; whole top of head blackish. Tibiae and edge of -wdng paler rufous, or whitish. 

 General color of upper parts paler and more grayish-blue, more or less tinged with rusty. 

 Black of under parts replaced by ashy. Upper mandible mostly blackish ; lores and most of 

 lower mandible greenish, rest of the latter and the eyes, yellow ; tibiae greenish. There are 

 endless variations in plumage and colors of the soft parts, but this great species cannot be 

 mistaken, being only closely related to the colored phase of the next. N. Am. at large, and 

 much of C. and S. Am., N. to Labrador, Hudson's Bay, and Sitka in Alaska; northerly migra- 

 tory; elsewhere resident. Breeds in suitable places throughout its range, sometimes singly, 

 tiftener in great heronries to which the birds resort year after year, shared usually with other 

 species of its tribe. Nest usually in trees or bushes, in the West sometimes on cliffs ; eggs 

 3-6, oftener 3-4, pale dull greenish -blue, ellipsoidal, about 2.50-1.50. 



656. A. occidenta'lis. (Lat. occidentalis, western.) Florida Heron. Great AVhite Heron. 

 WiJRDEMANN's Heron. Similar to the last; larger; dichromatic. Length 54.00; extent 

 83.00; wing 19.00-21.00; tail 8.00; biU 6.50; tarsus 8.00-8.50; tibiaj bare 5.50. ^ 9, 

 adult, colored phase Qivurdemanni Bd.) : Head, with the crest, white, the forehead streaked 

 with black edges of the feathers. Under parts white, the sides streaked with black ; lower 

 plumes of neck white, mostly streaked with black edges of the feathers. Neck purplish-gray^ 

 darker than in A. herodias, with a similar throat-line of white, black, and rufous. Under 

 wing-coverts streaked with white; rufous of edge of wing less extensive than in A. herodias, 

 that of the tibiae paler. Tibiae and soles of feet yellow ; tarsi and top of toes yeUowish-green. 

 Young : Like young herodias ; top of head dusky, the feathers with whitish shaft-lines and 

 bases. Lesser wing-coverts speckled vrith rusty, the under ones with white. Adult (J 9 in 

 white phase (occidentalis Aud.) : Color entirely pure white; bill and eyes yellow; culmen 

 greenish at base; lores bluish; legs yeUow, greenish in front. Southern Florida; Cuba; 

 Jamaica; " S. Illinois and Indiana." Eggs 3, 2.75 X 1.67. 



Obs. — A. wardi is described as indistinguishable in its white phase from the last ; in its 

 colored phase exactly like the last, but head colored as in herodias; bill 6.50-7.00; tarsus 

 8.50-9.00. Florida. (BuU. Nutt. Club, vii, Jan. 1882, p. 5.) , 



657. A. cine'rea. (Lat. cinerea, ashy. Fig. 456.) European Blue Heron. Character similar 

 to that of A. herodias ; easily distinguished by the white (not chestnut) tibiae and border of 

 wings, and ashy neck. Europe; only N. American as a straggler to Greenland. 



258. HERO'DIAS. (Lat. herodias ; see above, No. 655. Fig. 458.) Great Egret Herons. 

 Character of Ardea proper, excepting in plumage; color white; no crest; a long depending 

 train of stiff-shafted loose-webbed scapular feathers in the breeding season. Size large, only 

 exceeded by the species of Ardea. (See fig. of the European species, H. alba.) 



658. H. egret'ta. (0. H. G. hiegro, a heron; Fr. aigrette, a plume; Engl, egret.) Great 

 White Egret. White Heron. No obviously lengthened feathers on the head at any time; 

 in the breeding season, back with a magnificent train of very long plumes of decomposed, fas- 



