EGRETTA. 167 



black.' (Gould.) Length, 762; culmen, 112; wing, 381; tail, 160; 

 tarsus, 132 to 162." (Sharpe.) 



The following data are from the Luzon specimen which I have re- 

 corded: Killed on the Laguna de Bay, Luzon, March 16, 1906. Sexed 

 by the taxidermist as a male. Entire legs and feet black; bill yellow. 

 Dorsal plumes reaching little beyond base of tail, the bird being in rather 

 poor plumage. Tarsus, 159 ; bill from gape, 140 ; culmen from frontal 

 feathers, 114. This species is the largest as well as the rarest of the 

 pure white herons known from the Philippine Islands. 



Genus EGEETTA Forster, 1817. 



This genus appears to be closely related to MesopTioyx but the bill is 

 longer and more slender; toes and claws shorter; culmen longer than 

 middle toe with claw, primaries and secondaries about equal in length. 



139. EGRETTA GARZETTA (Linnseus). 



LITTLE WHITE EGRET. 



Ardea garzetta Linn^us, Syst. Nat. ed. 12 ( 1706), 1, 2,37. 

 Garzetta garzetta Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1898), 26, 118; Hand- 

 List (1899), 1, 197; Gates, Cat. Birds' Eggs (1902), 2, 120. 

 Herodias garzetta Blanford, Fauna Brit. Ind. Bds. (1898), 4, 387, fig. 91. 

 Egretta garzetta McGregor and Wobcester, Hand-List (1906), 33. 



Ta-ling-dao, Cagayancillo. 



Basilan (McGregor) ; Bohol (Everett, McGi'egor) ; Cagayancillo (McGregor) ; 

 Cebu (McGregor) ; Leyte (Everett) ; Lubang (McGregor) ; Luzon (Jagor, Everett, 

 Heriot, Bourns & Worcester, McGregor) ; Mindanao (Steere Exp., Goodfellow) ; 

 Mindoro (Porter) ; Negros (Steere Exp., Bourns d Worcester, Keay) ; Panay 

 (Bourns & Worcester); Roniblon (McGregor); Siquijor (Bourns & Worcester) . 

 Africa, southern Europe to central Asia, China, Japan, Indian Peninsula, Malay 

 Peninsula and Archipelago. 



"Adult male in hreeding plumage. — Everywhere snowy white, with two 

 elongated plumes depending from nape; dorsal plumes enormously elon- 

 gated into a beautiful tuft of feathers, which reach a little beyond the 

 tail and are recurved at the ends ; on the fore neck some elongated narrow 

 plumes. 'Bill black; bare skin about the eye and base of bill, whitish 

 fulvescent; tarsi and shanks black, feet greenish yellow, joints of toes 

 spotted with black on the upper surface; iris pale ashy yellow, with an 

 outer circle of brownish red.' {T. Ayres.) Length, about 508; culmen, 

 84; wing, 267; tail, 70; tarsus, 94. 



"Adult female. — Similar to the male, but tlie ornamental plumes not 

 quite so much develope4. Length, 571; culmen, 88; wing, 287; tail, 99; 

 tarsus, 95; middle toe with claw, 93. 



"Adult in winter plumage. — Differs from tliat of the summer plumage 

 in tlie want of all the ornamental plumes. 



