THE GREY HERONS. 69 



THE GREY HERONS. GENUS ARDEA. 



Ardea, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 283 (1766). 



Type, A. cinerea^ Linn. 



In the genus Ardea the tail-feathers are twelve in number, 

 but the middle toe is not so long as in Phoyx^ the tarsus being 

 longer than the middle toe and claw combined. The claw on 

 the hallux, or hind-toe, is curved and is not half so long as the 

 hallux itself. The edges of the mandibles are distincdy serrated 

 and there is a faint trace of a notch just before the tip of thf; 

 upper mandible. This notch, however, is often obsolete. 



I. THE COMMON HERON. ARDEA CINEREA. 



Ardea cinerea^ Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 266 (1766); Macg. Br. 

 B. iv. p. 440 (1852) ; Dresser, B. Eur. vi. p. 207, pi. 3915 

 (1875) ; B. O. U. List Br. B. p. 107 (1883) ; Seebohni, 

 Br. B. ii. p. 468 (1884) ; Saunders, ed. Yarr. Br. B. iv. 

 p. 162 (1884); Lilford, Col. Fig. Br. B. part viii. (1888); 

 Saunders, Man. Br. B. p. 355 (1889): Sharpe, Cat. B. 

 Brit. Mus. xxvii. p. 76. 



{Plate LX VI.) 



Adult Male.— General colour above light ashy-grey, the sca- 

 pulars and innermost secondaries elongated and drooping, 

 forming ornamental plumes of pearly-grey or white ; wing- 

 coverts grey, the outer ones lighter and inclining to pearly-grey 

 or white; quills black, the secondaries externally grey, the 

 inner ones like the back ; tail grey ; crown of head crested, 

 white in the centre, with a broad band of purplish-black on 

 each side ending in a crest on the occiput, from which de- 

 pend two long drooping black plumes ; sides of face, neck, 

 and under surface of body white, with a shade of creamy- 

 lilac on each side of the fore-neck and chest, which have 

 drooping plumes of narrow elongated white feathers ; throat 

 and fore neck streaked with black; on each side of the crop 

 a large patch of purplish-black, continued along the sides of 

 the body as far as the sides of the vent ; the sides of the 

 body otherwise light ashy-grey ; thighs and under tail-coverts 

 white ; under wing-coverts ashy-grey ; bill yellow, with the 

 ridge of the upper mandible brown towards the end ; feet dull 



