374 LITTLE EGRET. 



latter. It is tolerably abundant in suitable localities in the 

 Spanish Peninsula, Italy, Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, and generally 

 throughout the Mediterranean region. The northern limit of its 

 breeding-range appears to be in the wooded swamps of Slavonia, 

 where Mr. W. E. Clarke found it nesting towards the end of May 

 1883 on the Obedska 'bara,' a marsh on the river Save, not far 

 from Semlin. In the same year Messrs. Seebohm and Young found 

 it breeding in colonies on the Lower Danube ; and it is common 

 during the summer in Turkey and Southern Russia. Across Asia it 

 is distributed as far east as China and Japan ; in India and Ceylon 

 it is resident ; it visits the Philippines and Malayasia ; and a near 

 ally ranges from Java to Australia. To the west, it occurs in the 

 Azores and Canaries, and breeds in the Cape Verde Islands ; while 

 in Africa it is found as far as Cape Colony. Its representative in 

 the warmer districts of America is A. candidissima, distinguishable 

 by the large bunch of occipital feathers and by the yellow basal 

 portion of the bill. 



The nests of the Little Egret are usually placed in bushes and 

 trees, in company with those of other swamp-loving species ; the 

 material consisting of sticks and a few reeds, on which are deposited 

 the 3-6 eggs, of a pale bluish-green, somewhat pointed at both ends : 

 averaging 175 by i"25 in. In Andaluci'a Mr. R. B. Lodge found 

 them on May 5th. Dr. H. Gadow shot examples of this bird on 

 April 17th 1884, round an isolated rock on the south coast of Por- 

 tugal, on the inaccessible summit of which it appeared to be 

 breeding, in company with some Gulls ; and Mr. Boyd Alexander 

 took its eggs from nests made of acacia twigs on May loth, 

 on ledges or in recesses of sea-cliffs, in the Cape Verde Islands. 

 The note of alarm or defiance resembles the syllables ak, ark, and 

 ork. The food consists of small fishes, aquatic insects, frogs and 

 worms. 



The adult in spring and summer has the beak black j lores 

 lavender ; irides varying from yellow to pale lavender ; the entire 

 plumage pure white ; on the nape two long narrow feathers ; some 

 lanceolate plumes at the bottom of the neck in front ; dorsal plumes 

 greatly lengthened and filamentous ; legs mostly black, with yellowish 

 spots on the toes ; claws black. For some time after the 

 autumn moult the dorsal and occipital plumes are absent, and 

 the legs and feet are nearly black. Length to end of tail 2 1 in. 

 (bill 4 in.) ; wing 11 '25 in. Mr. J. H. Gurney says that the plumes 

 are sometimes as much developed in the females as in the males. 

 Young birds have a greyish tinge, and no elongated plumes. 



