<Q2 ARDEID^. 



Ardea puvpurata, Gin. Si/st. Nat. i. p. 641 (1788). 



Ardea rufa, Gm. t. c. p. 642. 



Ardea botaurus, Gm. t. c. p. 636. 



Ardea badia, Gm. t. c. p. 644. 



Ardea monticola, La Peyv. fide Wayler, Syst. Av., Ardea, sp. 6 (1827). 



Ardea purpurascens, Brehm, Voff. DeuUchl. p. 583 (1831). 



Ardea pharaonica, Bp. Consp. Av. ii. p. 113 (1855). 



Phoyx purpurea, Stejnecjer, Proc. U.S. Nat. Mvs. x. p. 311 (1887) ; 



Sharpe, Bull. B. O. Club, iii. p. xxxviii (1894), v. p. xi (1895) ; 



id. Uandb. Brit. B. iii. p. 66, pi. Ixv. (1896). 



Adult male. General colour above dark slate-colour, with elon- 

 gated narrow plumes of hoary grey aud light rufous depending from 

 the scapulars and inner secondaries ; wing-coverts light slaty grey 

 washed with reddish brown, and with maroon-brown on the lesser 

 series and round the bend of the wing; bastard-wing, primary- 

 coverts, and quills blue-black, the secondaries more grey externally 

 and slightly glossed with olive-green, the inner secondaries almost 

 •entirely grey ; tail-feathers slaty grey ; crown of head crested, black, 

 with two long plumes depending from the nape ; sides of face and 

 sides of neck briglit chestnut, marked with black in the following 

 manner : — from the base of the bill a black line crosses on the car- 

 •coverts, unites on the nape, and runs down the hind-neck for half 

 its length, the rest of hind-neck slaty grey, — a second line starts also 

 from the base of the bill and runs down each side of the neck, 

 forming a broad black line ; cheeks and upper throat white ; on the 

 centre of the lower throat commence some black-streaked feathers, 

 which, at first very small, become gradually more and more deve- 

 loped on the fore-neck, which is at the same time whiter than the 

 throat ; the lateral feathers on the fore-neck produced into elongated 

 drooping plumes, which are slaty grey, inclining to white at 

 the ends ; on each side of the chest is a large patch of maroon- 

 chestnut, tlie feathers of which are slaty black externally as they 

 approach the breast, which, with the abdomen, is also slaty black, 

 the under tail-coverts being similarly coloured and mottled with white 

 bases ; sides of body slaty grey ; thighs pale cinnamon ; under wing- 

 coverts chestnut ; axillaries and quill-lining slaty grey, the former 

 with a slight wash of rufous : " upper mandible brownish black, 

 lower mandible brownish yellow, yellow at tip ; cere greenish yellow ; 

 tarsi and feet black on anterior face, brownish yellow behind ; bare 

 part of thigh yellow ; iris pale yellow " {F. H. H. Guillemard). Total 

 length about 80 inches, culmen 4-8, wing 14-3, tail 5, tarsus 5-2. 



Advlt ftmale. Similar to the male, but not so finely coloured, the 

 black nuchal plumes shorter, and the streaked plumage on the fore- 

 neck not so strongly developed. Total length 34 inches, culmen 5'1, 

 wing 13-2, tail 4-5, tarsus 5-5. 



Winter plumage of adults. Similar to the summer plumage, but 

 without the two long black plumes on the nape, and the whitish 

 elongated plumes of the scapulars and fore-neck less developed. 



Young. Much browner than the adults, all the feathers of the 

 upper surface broadly bordered with sandy buff; the reddish 

 scapular plumes very short and feebly developed : inner secondaries 

 strongly glossed with oily green, and with sandy-buff margins ; the 

 neck yellowish buflt, slightly tinged with chestnut here and there ; 



