CEYLON WATER BIRDS. 319 
Habits —Generally met with singly or in pairs, but roosts 
and breeds in colonies in the same manner and at the same 
time as other members of the genus. In Ceylon it generally 
lays three or four eggs, pale bluish-green in colour, and 
measuring about 1:66 by 1°30. 
BUBULCUS COROMANDUS (Blanford, Vol. IV., p. 389; 
Legge, p. 1147). 
The Cattle Egret. 
Description.—Out of the breeding season the plumage is 
white with sometimes a wash of yellow on the forehead and 
fore-neck. In breeding plumage the head and greater part 
of the neck become golden-buff, sometimes with a brown or 
pink tinge, while long dorsal plumes of the same colour are 
developed ; the plumes do not extend beyond the tail. 
Bill yellow ; facial skin greenish-yellow ; iris pale yellow ; 
legs black, the naked portion of the tibia yellow, and the soles 
greenish-yellow. 
Length 20; wing 9°50; tail3°5; tarsus 3°5 ; billfrom gape 3. 
Distribution —Abundant all over the low-country, ascending 
the river valleys for some little way into the hills. Common 
in India and Burma, ranging eastwards throughout China to 
the Philippines and south-east to Celebes. 
Habits.—This species wanders away from water far more 
than other Herons and constantly follows buffaloes and cattle 
in the fields, feeding on ticks and grasshoppers. It breeds in 
colonies on trees growing in the water, making the usual stick 
nest and laying three to five eggs of very pale green averaging 
1-71 by 1°32. 
LrproroDIus AsHA (Blanford, Vol. IV., p. 390). 
ARDEA GULARIS (Legge, p. 1136). 
The Indian Reef Heron. 
Description.—Most birds are slaty-blue, with a white patch on 
the chin, throat, and lower cheeks ; the plumes on the back and 
breast are long, but not filamentous, andare worn all the year 
round; there is a crest of two long narrow ash-gray feathers. 
A good many specimens, however, are pure white all over. 
6 6(7)17 
