168 MANUAL OF PHILIPPINE BIRDS. 
“Young.—Resembling the winter plumage of the adult.” (Sharpe.) 
The lesser and little white egrgieare birds of wide distribution, usually 
found singly along sandy shores or in the vicinity of mangrove swamps. 
Genus DEMIGRETTA Blyth, 1846. 
In size of body and proportional size of bill, legs, and feet this genus 
is very similar to Hgretta but the legs are feathered nearer to the heel 
and the plumage is normally slate-blue. 
140. DEMIGRETTA SACRA (Gmelin). 
BLUE REEF HERON. 
Ardea sacra GMELIN, Syst. Nat. (1788), 1, pt. 2, 640. 
Demiegretta sacra SHARPE, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1898), 26, 137; Hand- 
List (1899), 1, 198; Oares, Cat. Birds’ Eggs (1902), 2, 122; Mc- 
GREGOR and WorcESTER, Hand-List (1906), 33. 
Lepterodius sacer BLANFOoRD, Fauna Brit. Ind. Bds. (1898), 4, 391, fig. 93. 
Ta-la-bon, Ticao. 
Balabae (Steere Exp., Everett); Bantayan (McGregor); Batan (McGregor) ; 
Bohol (Steere Exp., McGregor); Bongao (Hverett); Cagayancillo (McGregor) ; 
Cagayan Sulu (Guwillemard) ; Calayan (McGregor); Cebu (Murray, McGregor) ; 
Cuyo (McGregor); Fuga (McGregor); Lubang (McGregor); Luzon (Bourns & 
Worcester, Whitehead); Marinduque (Steere Exp.); Masbate (Bourns & Wor- 
cester); Mindanao (Bourns & Worcester, Mearns); Mindoro (Bourns & Wor- 
cester, McGregor); Negros (Bourns & Worcester, Keay); Panay (Bourns & 
Worcester) ; Pata (Mearns); Romblon (Bourns € Worcester, McGregor) ; Semi- 
rara (Worcester) ; Sibuyan (Bourns & Worcester, McGregor) ; Siquijor (Bourns 
¢& Worcester); Sulu (Guillemard); Tablas (Bourns & Worcester); Tawi Tawi 
(Bourns & Worcester) ; Ticao (McGregor). Coast of Bay of Bengal to Australia 
and Oceania, north to Japan and Korea. 
“Adult male in breeding plumage.—General color deep blackish slate ; 
head almost black; feathers of upper breast elongated like those of the 
middle of the back, some of the latter decomposed ; the elongated feathers 
of a paler slaty gray, and those of back reaching to end of tail; head 
crested and of the same color as the back; abdomen and vent-feathers 
tinged with ashy; a pure white streak down the center of the throat. 
Length, 584; culmen, 71; wing, 254; tail, 79; tarsus, 74. 
“Adult female in breeding plumage.—Similar to the male, but the 
ornamental plumes slightly less developed. Length, 533; wing, 259. 
“Young.—Paler and more sooty brown than the adults, and bleaching 
often to a slight earthy brown. No ornamental plumes on head, back, 
and chest. 
“Adult birds, either in winter plumage or perhaps in the second year, 
are blacker than in the summer plumage. Some of these black-plumage 
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