82 BULLETIN 15 5, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



veritable cloud of birds rose, the majority being the present species. 

 He observed them further at Aquin, Etang Miragoane, Gressier, 

 Port-au-Prince, Cap Haitien and Caracol, all during April, 1927. 

 James Bond recorded them at the Etang Miragoane, Fort Liberte 

 and on Gonave Island. F. P. Mathews saw them on Gonave Island 

 in July, 1927, according to Danforth. Poole and Perrygo saw this 

 species at Grand Riviere January 21, 1929, on Tercero Island, in the 

 Seven Brothers group January 30, and collected two adults and two 

 in white immature dress at Fort Liberte February 11, 12 and 15, 

 1929. Further they secured an adult four miles south of Cerca-la- 

 Source March 23, 1929. The latter it is supposed represents a 

 wanderer from the coastal region. 



Descourtilz describes the mixed phase of plumage in this species 

 which he thought was produced by crossing between the little blue 

 heron and the egret. In Haiti the young in white dress are known 

 as crabier blanc, and the adults as crabier bleu, or crabier noir. 



The adult bird is slaty gray above and blackish below, with a wash 

 of rufescent color on head and foreneck. Part of the young are 

 slaty and a part pure white except for a mottling of grey at the tips 

 of the primaries. Other individuals show a mixture of slate and 

 white. The length ranges from 540 to 575 mm., and the wing from 

 about 245 to 275 mm. The white birds are often mistaken for the 

 snowy heron but may be told by the greenish tarsi, these being black 

 in the snowy heron. 



BUTORIDES VIRESCENS VIRESCENS (Linnaeus) 

 LITTLE GREEN HERON 



Ardea virescens Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, vol. 1, 1758, p. 144 (coast of 

 South Carolina). 



Butorides virescens virescens, Peters, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 61, 1917, 

 p. 398 (Sosua, specimen). 



Rare in winter ; three specimens known. 



Peters shot a male at Sosiia, Dominican Republic on March 29, 

 1916, that he has identified as the typical form of this species saying 

 that it " agrees perfectly in color and size with representatives from 

 the United States; the sides of the neck being more purplish than 

 in B. v. maculatus, while all its measurements are larger than typical 

 B. v. maculatus. Wing 177, tail 70.5, exposed culmen 60, tarsus 52, 

 middle toe 44 mm. 



" While I have referred this specimen to the continental form it 

 is perfectly possible that its larger size may be due to individual 

 variation in B. v. maculatus." 



