Birds of Gazaland. 429 



probably referable to this species, passed me flying towards 

 the river on the evening of December 11th near Chibabava. 



239. Ardea purpurea. Purple Heron. 



P. On the 2nd and 12th of December I several times 

 flushed these birds in some large pools near Chibabava, 

 always solitary individuals and very shy, which got up well 

 out of range and flew three or four hundred yards before 

 settling again. A male which I secured on the 12th 

 measured 36*8 inches in the flesh and its stomach contained 

 a dragon-fly, the remains of a fish, and the debris of aquatic 

 insects. The irides, both in this specimen and in a female 

 shot in Mashoiialand in 1898, were very pale lemon-yellow. 

 In the male the bare skin of the face Avas greenish yellow, 

 becoming dusky brown below the eye ; the culmen was 

 blackish, the base of the lower mandible greenish yellow, its 

 apical half, as also the commissure in the upper, a warmer 

 yellow. The tibio-tarsus was pale gamboge, changing to 

 rather duller yellow on the back of the tarsi and on the 

 soles, the front of the tarsus and toes deep sepia. In the 

 female these colours were represented by pale green and 

 dusky olive-green respectively. 



240. Herodias alba. Great "White Egret. 

 Singuni : " Intechana.'^ 



P. On December 2nd and 12th I found quite a number 

 of these large White Egrets on a series of pools near Chiba- 

 bava, looking very handsome and conspicuous at a distance. 

 They were standing about singly or in twos or threes in the 

 water amongst the sedge, and when disturbed flew to the 

 tops of the higher trees. They were very shy. I noted 

 them again at Gwaragwara. 



241. BuBULcus IBIS. Cattle-Egret. 

 Chizwina (Mashona) : " Chifudza-ngombe." 



Rh. I noted a pair of these birds on the Haroni River on 

 September 26th, 1906, and I have little doubt that the birds 

 referred in my last paper ('Ibis,' 1907, p. 305) to Herodias 

 garzetta really belonged to the present species. 



