876 SYSTEM A TIC SYNOPSIS. — HERODIONES — HERODII. 



A. wuerdeman'ni. (To Gustavus Wiirdeinann of the U. S. Coast Survey.) Wurdemann's 

 Heron. Like wardi in size and coloration, but markings of head different. Length 48.00- 

 50.00; extent 70.00 or more ; wing 20.00-21.00; culmen 6.00-6.50; tibiae bare 5.50; tarsus 

 8.00. Adult in breeding plumage : 'Head and crest white, only the forehead streaked with 

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

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

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

 coverts streaked with white; rufous edge of wing less extensive than in herodias ; tibise paler 

 rufous. Tibiae and soles yellow; tarsi and tops of toes yellowish -green. Young: Like young 

 herodias ; top of head dusky, the feathers with whitish shaft-lines ; wing-coverts spotted with 

 buff and white. Eggs 3 or more, 2.70 X 1-80. Southern Florida; "accidental in Indiana 

 and Illinois, Sept. 1876." Status of the species questionable. It is described correctly in the 

 Key, original edition, 1872, p. 267; in later editions, 1884-90, p. 658, treated as the colored 

 phase oi occidentalis ; it may be such, or a possible hybrid between occidentalis and herodias. 

 It is relegated to the Hypothetical List of the A. 0. U. 1886-95, No. 9, as " believed to be either 

 the colored phase of A. occidentalis Aud., or an abnormal specimen of A. wardi Ridgw." 

 Equally conclusive statements may be read in Bull. U. S. Geol. Surv. iv, 1878, pp. 227-236; 

 Bull. Nutt. Oru. Club, vii, 1882, pp. 1-6; Auk, i. 1884, pp. 161-163; Water B. N. A. i, 

 1884, pp. 7-13. 



A. occidentalis. (Lat. occidentalis, western.) Great White Heron. Audubon's 

 Heron. Type of genus Audubonia Bp. Like tvardi and wuerdemanm in size, or rather at 

 their maximum dimensions. Plumage pure white at all ages. Bill and eyes yellow ; culmen 



Fig. C12. — Great Egret. (L. A. Fuertes.) 



greenish at base ; lores bluish ; legs aud feet yellow, greenish on front of tarsus and tops of 

 toes. Southern Florida; Cuba; Jamaica. A. occidentalis, Aud. 1835; folio pi. 281, Bvo pi. 

 368; CouES, Key, orig. ed. 1872, p. 267; A. 0. U. Lists, 1886-95, No. 192. Audubonia 

 occidentalis Bp. 1855; Bd. 1858. Treated as the wliite phase of wuerdemanni in Key, 2d- 

 4th eds. 1884-90, p. 658. Nest in mangroves ; eggs 2-4. 



HERO'DIAS. (Lat. Herodias; see above under Ardea herodias. Fig. 613.) 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 breeding season ; sides 

 of lower mandible extensively feathered. Size large, only exceeded by species of Ardea proper. 

 Subgenus Herodias of A. O. U. Lists. 



H. egret'ta. (Latinized directly from Fr. aigrette, a sort of heron, also a plume; Eng. aigret, 

 egret, cognate with Prov. aigron, Ital. aghirone, etc.; the word is a diminutive in form, and in 

 ultimate analysis identical with heron. Fig. 612.) Great White Egret. White Heron. 

 Adult (J 9 = ^o obviously lengthened feathers on head at any time ; in breeding season, back 

 with a magnificent train of very long plumes of decomposed, fastigiate feathers of scapulars 



