375 
Himalayas, but apparently along the snow line. A specimen 
was sent to the Museum of the Asiatic Society by Capt. Smyth 
Description.—From Macgillivray.) Bill greyish blue at base, bluish 
black towards the end; the cere dusky; soft edges of the mandibles flesh 
coloured, as is the inside of the mouth. Jrides bright orange ; bare edges of 
the eyelids and margins of the nictitant membrane dusky. Scutella pale 
greyish blue; claws of the same color as the bill; soles, pale flesh colour. 
The bill is short, very robust, considerably compressed; the cere rather 
large, and nearly bare, although concealed by the feathers in the neighbour- 
hood.—The nostrils are large, broadly elliptical, oblique, divided by a soft 
projecting ridge, their greatest diameter feur-twelfths of an inch. 
The tibia is rather short, the tarsus short, robust, and with the toes fea- 
thered. ‘The first toe very short, the second considerably longer than the 
fourth, and in about the same degree exceeded by the third ; the two latter 
connected by a short web; all with three terminal scutelle, and their lower 
surface padded and papillate. 
Plumage.—The plumage is very full, soft, blended and elastic. 
The facial disks extend round two-thirds of the eye, leaving the upper part 
covered with shorter feathers ; those at the base of the cere are linear, with 
strong shafts and bristly filaments. 
The ruff extends from a little above the ear to the chin, and is formed of 
oblong, slightly curved feathers. Over and above the eye, on each side is a 
double series of elongated feathers, of which there are nine in each row, the 
longest projecting upwards of two inches beyond the rest of the plumage.—On 
the outer side of the tibia is a tuft of very soft elongated feathers.— 
The facial disks are pale yellowish brown, faintly barred with dusky ; 
their anterior part greyish white, with the shafts black at the end. The 
feathers of the lower eyelid are greyish white, of the upper chiefly black. 
Those over the eye, and the long tufts, are brownish black, internally 
edged or mottled with reddish. The general colour of the upper parts is 
reddish yellow, spotted, barred, and minutely dotted with dark brown. On 
the lower part of the hind neck, most of the feathers have only a median lon- 
gitudinal blackish brown band. The small wing coverts at the flexure, the 
alula, and the primary coverts, are almost entirely dusky. ‘The quills are 
barred with brownish black, and in the intervals yellowish red, nearly pure 
on the inner webs, but on the outer closely and minutely undulated with 
brown. ‘The tail is similar, but with less yellow. The feathers on the up- 
per part of the throat are white; a band of barred and mottled feathers then 
crosses the throat, being continuous with the ruff; and on the middle of the 
neck is a white patch with some dusky spots. The rest of the neck is red- 
dish yellow, each feather with an oblong, brownish black, longitudinal band, 
and transverse, lateral, undulated bars. On the thorax and sides, the feathers 
are similar, the central dusky patch gradually becoming narrower, and on 
those farthest back ceasing; while the narrow, transverse bars become nu- 
merous in the same proportion. The large tibial feathers and lower tail 
coverts are greyish yellow, mixed with red, and barred with dusky ; those of 
the tibize more tinged with yellow, and more faintly barred. The downy or 
concealed part of the plumage is dark greyish blue. 
The following description is extracted for comparison from the Naturalist’s 
Library. “The disk and ruff are small and incomplete, greyish black, tinted 
with ochraceous, and margined round the occipital edges with black. The egrets 
which are fully two inches long, are deep black, slightly edged with ochraceous 
