ARDEA LUCIDA 160 



extending from the lower part, and the breast which is also washed with 

 cream and has a tuft of vinous-buff feathers proceediug from the lower fore- 

 neck. 



Iris, bill and feet yellow ; the bare space round the eye greenish yellow. 



Total length 18 50 inches, wing 10-50, cuhnen 2-iO, tarsus 3-25. 



Adult female similar to the male. 



The young resemble the adult birds in winter, when the plumage is mucli 

 whiter, and lacks the ornamental plumes. 



The feet at that season are much darker. 



This is a common and resident species in Tunisia, particularly 

 in the low-lying wet plains and more marshy districts of the north of 

 the Eegency, where it breeds, and is to be met with throughout the 

 entire year. 



In Algeria and Marocco the Buff-backed Heron appears to be as 

 common as it is in Tunisia, and is also resident in both countries, 

 although, according to Favier, the majority of the birds observed near 

 Tangier pass northwards in spring and return later in the year. 



There can be no doubt, however, that the Buff-backed Heron is 

 more of a southern species than most of the other Herons, as with 

 the exception of Southern Spain, in some parts of which it is even 

 abundant and resident, the species is not often found in the 

 European Continent. 



In Italy examples of it are obtained from time to time, but it 

 cannot be looked upon as otherwise than rare there. 



The type of Rafinesque's A. lucida appears to have been obtained 

 from Trapani in Sicily about the year 1810. An example of the species, 

 a female, obtained near Palermo on May V6, 1891, is preserved in the 

 University Museum of that town. 



In the Island of Cyprus the species is said to occur not 

 unfrequently. 



In Tunis the Buff-backed Heron is abundant on the extensive 

 grass-plains and marshy land near Mater and Bizerta, and is generally 

 to be seen in small flocks in the immediate vicinity of grazing cattle, 

 on and around which the birds find an abundant supply of food in the 

 ticks and other insects which infest these animals. Like Starlings 

 with sheep, these Herons treat cattle in the most familiar way, 

 perching on their backs, and walking round and about them without 

 the least fear. 



The trivial names of the species in various languages, as well as 



