ARDEIDAE 9 1 



America, is blue-grey with white on the forehead and neck ; the 

 head, crest, and flanks being black, and the belly cinnamon. 

 C. zeledoni of Central America differs in its reddish fore-neck. 



Ardca, another world-wide genus, may be sulidivided as below if 

 desired,^ but tlie supposed generic characters are hardly satisfactory. 

 A. (Buphus) huhulcus, the Buff-backed Heron of South Europe, 

 Africa, and Asia, to the Caspian, is white, with Ijuff crown and 

 nape, and elongated occipital, scapular, and jugular plumes of the 

 same colour, developed in the lireeding season ; A. coromanda, 

 with orange head, neck, and scapulars, replacing it from the Cas- 

 pian eastward and reaching Japan. The former has once visited 

 Britain, while A. {Ardcola) rallo'idcs, the Squacco Heron, has 

 done so frequently. This bird, which ranges from the Canaries 

 and Central Europe to Soiith Africa and Persia, is warm buff, 

 with white wings, tail, breast, and Ijelly, the darker back possess- 

 ing long hair-like plumes which cover the tail, the jugulars being 

 buff, and the head graced by a tuft of Ling white feathers, margined 

 with black. A. {Le-pterodius) gidaris of tropical Africa and Mada- 

 gascar, and A. asha, extending from the Persian Gulf to India, 

 are dusky-slate with white throat, and have moderate scapular 

 and pectoral plumes, with a nuptial crest. A. {Demiegretta) 

 sacra, ranging from Bengal to Japan, Australia, and the Pacific, 

 differs in having only a white streak down the throat, A. greyi 

 being a white phase. A. (Mela7iophoyx) ardesiaca of the Ethiopian 

 Eegion is almost entirely slaty-black, with elongated occipital, 

 dorsal, and jugular feathers ; A. {Notojjlioyx) pticata of Australia, 

 New Guinea, and the Moluccas, is bluer, and nearly white below ; 

 while A. pacifica of that country is greener, with white head and 

 rufescent dorsal plumes. A. {Dichromanassa) riifa of the warmer 

 parts of North America is plumbeous, with reddish head and 

 neck, its white phase being denominated A. pealii ; here nearly 

 all the head- and neck-feathers are elongated, and the filamentous 

 scapulars extend beyond the tail. A. (Sydranassa) tricolor, 

 found from thie Southern United States to Brazil, is grey- 

 l)lue, purple, rufous, and white, with shorter seasonal plumes 

 than the preceding ; A. (Florida) caerulea, with a slightly more 

 northern range, is slaty -blue, witli maroon head and neck, a 

 variable amount of white when innnature, and extremely long- 

 scapulars : while A. (Agamia) agami of central and northern 

 1 Cr. Sluupc, Cat. Binhlh-it. Mux. xvii. 1898-9, pp. .56-59. 



