IV ARDEIDAE 93 
in most cases, developed in the nuptial period, and the scapular 
and jugular feathers are elongated, though not decomposed. The 
Common Heron (A. cinerea), ranging through Europe, Africa, and 
Asia, to Japan and Australia, needs no description, but the Purple 
Heron, A. (Phoyx) purpurea, though it often occurs in Britain, is 
less well known. It is grey, with black crown and black stripes 
down the sides of the buff neck, chestnut scapulars, rufous, grey, 
and black jugular plumes, and maroon breast ; the range being from 
Central and Southern Europe to South Africa, China, and the 
Philippines. A. herodias of North America meets in northern 
South America the white-necked A. cocoi, both species resembling 
A. cinerea, but the 
former having rufous 
thighs and edge of the 
wing. The white A. 
occidentalis, of Florida 
and Cuba, was for- 
merly thought to be 
an instance of dichro- 
matism. The African 
A, goliath has the 
head and neck rufous 
and the under surface 
chiefly maroon. 
The sexes are 
usually alike ; but the 
female has ordinarily 
shorter plumes, and 
may be duller, as may 
the young, though 
the stages of plumage 
are not yet com- 
pletely worked out. 
White or rufous mark- 
ings are often noticeable, especially in immature spec imens of 
Ar dea; there is little red about the head in those of Dichromanassa, 
though in Hydranassa the amount 1s greater than in the adult ; 
those of Florida are generally very white ; and, conversely, w hite 
Fria. 27. —Whale-head or Shoe-bill. Balaeniceps rex. x ir 
1 Ridgway, Manual N. ‘Amer. Birds, 1887, p. 128. A, wiirdemanni of Florida 
is a Close ally. 
