BUFF-BACKED HERON 23 
Adult female nuptial——Similar in plumage to the male. 
Adult winter, male and female.—The dorsal and head- 
plumes are absent. 
Immature, male and female.—Feathers greyish-white in 
colour and long plumes absent. 
Brak. Black. 
Frer. Black, with yellow spots on the toes. 
IrtpEs. Light pinkish-yellow. 
Kees. Pale blue-green; rather pointed at both ends: 
clutch three to six. 
AVERAGE MEASUREMENTS. 
TOTAL LENGTH ... ae see Seed In. 
WING ei noe a ell 5 aie 
BEAK a ae ee, oe a 
TARSO-METATARSUS foe dt RCO, es 
KGG ... NEG. ye ISOAS) aa) 
BUFF-BACKED HERON. Ardea bubulcus (Audouin). 
Coloured Figures.—Gould, ‘ Birds of Great Britain,’ vol. iv, a 
24; Dresser, ‘ Birds of Europe,’ voly.vi,, pl 400) figs: 
Lilford, ‘Coloured Figures,’ vol. xii, pl. 8. 
There is only one well-authenticated example of this 
southern species on record, an immature female shot 
towards the end of October, 1805, near Kingsbridge, in 
Devonshire. (Montagu, Trans. Linn. Soc., vol. TG 0: "197.) 
This bird is preserved in the Natural History Museum, 
South Kensington. 
Mr. Harting, in his ‘ Handbook of British Birds,’ 1901, 
“plume” that surmounts or until lately surmounted the ‘‘ busby” or 
‘*bearskin,”’ of our artillery, hussars, and certain select regiments of 
foot.” Here as an ornament “it verges on the ridiculous, all the grace 
of the original being lost in the horsehair that counterfeits its form ” 
(Newton). Many thousands of Egrets have also been slaughtered to 
supply the millinery market, and as the massacre takes place just prior 
to the breeding-season, when the plumes are at their best, it is obvious 
that if this wholesale ‘trading continues the birds will speedily become 
exterminated. It is to be hoped that a law for the protection of these 
birds will be enacted and rigidly enforced, so that ‘ ospreys’ will not be 
allowed into our markets for ornamental purposes, before the Little 
Egret, like many other beautiful and interesting birds, becomes by the 
cruel hand of man, but a thing of the past. 
