278 APPENDIX TO HERODIONES. 



i-hroat and fore-neck. Two of his specimens have an irregular 

 wing-patch of dingy white, as if belonging to remains of a white 

 form such as obtains in Demiegretta sacra. Such of the synonymy 

 as belongs to B. hrevipes must be struck out of that of B. atrica- 

 jriUa, as, from a re-examination of the specimens in the Museum, I 

 tind that all the plain-breasted birds come from the Red Sea coast, 

 so that I am compelled to modify my previous statements (p. 174), 

 and the following species must be inserted in its place, while 

 specimens i', k', I', n, and o' must also be transferred to B. hrevipes. 

 Spec, m' from Ain belongs to the true B. atricapilla. 



Page 175. Insert: — \a. Butorides brevipes. 



Ardea (Nycticorax) brevipes, Hempr. l^- Ehr. Symb. Phys. fol. m, 



note 2 (1828). 

 Butorides brevipes, Bp. Consp. ii. p. 129 (1855). 

 Ardea brevipes, Beuyl. J. f. O. 1867, p. 2S-6 ; Hartl. P. Z. S. 1881, 



p. 959 (Socotra). 

 Ardea atricapilla [nee Afzel.), Finsch, Tr. Z. S. vii. p. 297 (1870 : 



Massowa). 

 Ardea (Butorides) atricapilla, Blanf. Geol. ^- Zool. Abyss, p. 435 



(1870: Massowa). 

 Ardea striata, sub*p. brevipes, Reichen. J.f. 0. 1877, p. 254. 

 (Meniscus brevipes, Heine Sf Reichen. Nomencl. Miis. Hein. p. 308 



(1890). 

 Butorides atricapilla, pt., Sharpe, Cat. B. xxvii. p. 172. 



Adult. Diifers from B. atricapilla in its nearly uniform grey 

 throat, which is only slightly mottled with white and shows but a 

 tew black streaks, the tawny-rufous colour on the throat and chest 

 being absent. Eesembles B.javanica, but has not the white stripe 

 behind the eye, so that the ear-coverts are uniform rusty brown. 

 B. brevipes is, in fact, very nearly allied to the dingy-coloured 

 B. spodiogaster and B. stagnatilis, but has not the rusty-brown 

 tint on the flanks, which appear to be quite grey in the Muscat 

 specimen. 



Capt. Kelsall's specimens had the following soft parts : — 

 2 ad. Upper mandible dark horn-colour, lower one greenish ; 

 tarsi dark green in front, light green behind ; iris yellow ; orbits 

 green. 



cT juv. Bill black ; tarsi dark greenish horn-colour ; iris yellow. 



The Muscat specimen measures : — Total length lO'O inches, 

 culmen 2-4, wing d-8, tail 2-3, tarsus 2. 



Hab. E,ed Sea coast and island of Socotra to Muscat in Eastern 

 Arabia. 



a. Ad. sk. Muscat, Jan. 27, 1890. Surgeon-Col. Jayakar [P.]. 



b. S; c,d. 2 Aden, Feb. 26, 1896. Capt. H. J. Kelsall [P.]. 

 ad. sk. 



e, f. Imm. sk. Massowa, Abyssinian Tweeddale Coll. 



coast, Aug. 24 ( W. 



Jesse), 

 g. ? ad. sk. Massowa, Aug. 25. W. T. Blanford, Esq. [C.]. 



