ARDEID. 349. 
or five inches lower in front; from the eye over the 
ear-coverts and downwards on the side of the neck 
dull white; general colour of the back, wings, rump, 
tail-feathers and all the under surface of the body 
ash-grey; wing primaries black; tertials elongated, 
the webs unconnected and reaching beyond the ends 
of the primaries ;* the tail-feathers are varied and 
tipped with bluish black; the under surface of the 
wings and the axillary plume light grey; legs and 
toes bluish black; claws black.’ Yarrell says 
nothing about the black lines on the shafts of the 
feathers, which appear to me a peculiarity of the 
bird. 
The eggs, according to Yarrell, are of a pale 
greenish ground colour, blotched and spotted with 
dark green and olive-brown. 
Family ARDEIDZ. 
Of the Ardeide, or Herons, there are fourteen 
British species, but only seven of these, as far as I 
have been able to ascertain, can be included in the 
Somersetshire list. 
Common Heron, Ardea cinerea. ‘The Common 
Heron, which, by the bye, is here invariably called 
* This appears to be a mistake, as the feathers here 
described are the greater coverts of the tertials. See also 
Dr. Saxby’s account. 
2H 
