198 OX THE BIRDS OF CELEBES. [1872. 



3. A. speciosa, Horsf., "Java." Most probably the same as the Malaccan form. Stated by 

 Professor Schlegel to also occur in Sumbawa and Borneo. 



4. A. jtrasiiioacclci!, Swinhoe, " China." 



Tr. Z. S. viii. Not recognizing the fact that Boddaert and Gmelin founded their titles on the same plate, 



^" ''^'*' Mr. Blyth (Ibis, 1865, p. 38) called the Indian bird leucoptera, Bodd., and that of the Malayan 

 peninsula and Sumatra malaccensis, Gm. 



Herodl\s, Boie. 



171. IIerodias xiGKirES (Tcmm.), Man. d'Orn. 2nd edit, part iv. p. 376, " L'Archipel des 

 Indes" (1840); Schlegel, Mus. Pays-Bas, Ardece, p. 14, "Lac de Gorontalo, Celebes." 



Not possessing a sufficient number of examples of //. (jarzeita (Linn.) and its allies to attempt 

 an elucidation of its races, their habitats, and synonymy, I have followed Temminck, and given 

 to the Celebean bird the title by which the Dutch zoologist distinguished the little Egret of India, 

 of the Malay archipelago, and of New Guinea, from the European, North Asiatic, and Japanese 

 bird. Professor Schlegel {I. c.) does not admit their specific distinction, and includes all under 

 A. (jarzetta, Linn. To him we owe the important fact that Temminck founded his A. iiijjripcs 

 on examples from Java, Borneo, and Celebes now in the Leyden ^luseum. We are thus provided 

 with a clue to the maze of confusion into which Prince Bonaparte (Consp. ii.) has thrown the 

 synonymy of the "White Egrets {conf. Schlegel, op. cit. p. 19). 



172. nERODi.\s EGRETTA (Gm.), Syst. Nat. ed. 13, i. p. 629 (1788), ex Buff. Hist. Nat. Ois. 

 vii. p. 377, "America;" Schlegel, Mus. Pays-Bas, Ardece, p. 17. 



Ilab. Gorontalo (Forsteii). 



1 adopt Professor Schlegel's determination with reserve, its con-ectness depending on the 

 identity of the Asiatic with the American bird. The Celebean example is probably the //. alba 

 (L.), ap. Jerd. (Birds of India), =A. modesta. Gray & Hardw., A. alba vera being restricted by 

 Professor Schlegel to Southern Europe, Northern Africa, and "Western Asia. The history of the 

 Egrets has yet to be written. 



Ardetta, G. R. Gray. 



173. Ardetta sixexsis (Gm.), Syst. Nat. ed. 13, i. p. 642 (1788), ex Lath., " China." 



Ardea melanoptera, Cuvier, Mus. Paris. Puch. ; Rev. Mag. Zool. 1851, p. 575. 



melnnophis, Cuv., ap. Less. Tr. p. 573, error e. 



lepida, Ilorsf. Trans. Linn. Soc. xiii. p. 190, " Java." 



inelanotis, Cuv., ap. G. 11. Gray, Genera, iii. Append, p. 35, crrore. 



Ilah. Menado {nuis. nostr.) ; all India [Jcrdon) ; Java {Ilorsf.) ; Ceylon, Arracan {Blyth) ; 

 China, from Canton to Tientsin, Formosa, in summer {Swinlioe) ; Borneo, Philippines {Alus. 

 Lmjd.) ; Ladrone or Marian Isles C?) {G. E. Gray). 



I cannot concur with Mr. Blyth nor with Dr. Jerdon in regarding Ardea nebulosa, Horsf. 

 {I. c), as belonging to this species. Ilorsficld's diagnosis applies far better to Ardetta cinnamomea 

 (Gm.). The expression " cuuda reutiijibusquc badiia' appears to me conclusive. 



