IV ARDEIDAE gI 
America, is blue-grey with white on the forehead and neck; the 
head, crest, and flanks being black, and the belly cinnamon. 
C. zeledone of Central America differs in its reddish fore-neck. 
Ardea, another world-wide genus, may be subdivided as below if 
desired,’ but the supposed generic characters are hardly satisfactory. 
A, (Buphus) bubulcus, the Buff-backed Heron of South Europe, 
Africa, and Asia to the Caspian, is white, with buff crown and 
nape, and elongated occipital, scapular, and jugular plumes of the 
same colour, developed in the breeding 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 4A. (Ardeola) ralloides, the Squacco Heron, has 
done so frequently. This bird, which ranges from the Canaries 
and Central Europe to South Africa and Persia, is warm buff, 
with white wings, tail, breast, and belly, 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 long white feathers, margined 
with black. A. (Lepterodius) gularis of tropical Africa and Mada- 
gasear, 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. greya 
being a white phase. A. (Melanophoya) ardesiaca of the Ethiopian 
Region is almost entirely slaty-black, with elongated occipital, 
dorsal, and jugular feathers; A. (Notophoyx) picata 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) rufa 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. 4. (Hydranassa) tricolor, 
found from the Southern United States to Brazil, is grey- 
blue, purple, rufous, and white, with shorter seasonal plumes 
than the preceding; A. (Florida) caerulea, with a slightly more 
northern range, is slaty-blue, with maroon head and neck, a 
variable amount of white when immature, and extremely long 
scapulars; while A. (Agamia) agami of central and northern 
1 Cf. Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xvii. 1898-9, pp. 56-59. 
