AEDEA PURPUREA 163 



Heronries, selecting, as a rule, trees as sites for their nests. In 

 North-west Africa the individuals of the species that remain to breed, 

 resort to marshes for that purpose, and place their nests on the ground 

 among reeds and other aquatic vegetation. The nest is a bulky flat 

 structure composed of twigs, rootlets, and dry grasses, and the eggs, 

 three or four in number, are of a uniform pale greenish-blue colour, 

 measuring about 62 x 45 mm. 



The marshes surrounding the Djebel Eshkul near Bizerta are the 

 favourite resort of this and other species oi A rdeida, which may be 

 found nesting there in considerable numbers and in close proximity to 

 each other. 



The Black-necked Heron {A. melanocephala) , according to Loche, 

 has occurred in Algeria as a straggler (Expl. Sci. Alg. Ois. ii. p. 129). 

 Canon Tristram also appears to have met with the species in the 

 Algerian Sahara (Birds of Eur. vi. p. 226). 



ARDEA PURPUREA, Linnaeus. 

 PURPLE HERON. 



Ardea purpurea, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p, 236 (1766) ; MaJlierbe, Cat. Bais. 



(VOis. Alg. p. 20 (1846); Loche, Expl. Sci. Alg. Ois. ii, p. 130 (1867); 



Koenig, J.f. 0. 1893, p. 87 ; Erlanger, J.f. 0. 1900, p. 37. 

 Phoyx purpurea, Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. sxvi, p. 60. 



Description. — Adult male, winter, from North Tunisia. 



Crown and elongated nuchal plumes glossy blaek ; sides of the head and 

 neck rufous, with black stripes extending from the gape backward and down 

 the middle and on each side of the neck ; rest of upper plumage generally 

 ashen-slate, becoming darkest on the quills and tail ; some of the dorsal 

 plumes and the scapulars much elongated, the latter tinged in part with 

 rufous ; chin and upper throat white, becoming pale rufous lower down, and 

 striped with black along the centre of the fore neck, ending in very elongated 

 pale buff-coloured feathers, striped with black; breast deep rich chestnut; 

 abdomen chestnut, black in the middle ; thighs rufous ; sides of the body 

 ashen-grey ; under tail-coverts black and white. 



Iris and bill bright yellow ; feet greenish-grey. 



Total length 33 inches, wing 14, culmen 5, tarsus 4-75. 



Adult female, similar to the male, but rather smaller and duller in 

 coloration. 



The young bird is paler and greyer, and without the long nuchal plumes. 



