AHDEIDiE— THE HERONS. 120* 



c*. Smaller, with legs and feet black or dusky, only the tibiae yellowish; total lencth 

 sboat 40 to 48 inches; wing. 18.00-19.50; exposed culmen, 6.45-5.95; tarsus, fi. 75- 

 7.85. Ilab. Whole of temperate North America and parts of tropical Amor- 

 ica A. herodias . 



The relationship between these four species or races is very 

 puzzling, and no one, apparently, fully understands the case- 

 While each of the four forms is easily recognized by the char- 

 acter fjiven above, and while a large majority of specimcn.s are 

 typically either one or the other of them, intermediate exam])les 

 not uufrequently occur. The only apparent difference between 

 A. herodias and A. wardl consists in general dimensions and in 

 the color of the legs; but in both respects there seems to be a 

 complete intergradation among Florida specimens. On the 

 other hand, A. vmrdl, A. wuerdemannh', and A. occidentalim agree 

 minutely in measurements and in the color of the legs; and the 

 first two unquestionably intergrade. The writer has already 

 expressed the hypothesis that A. wuerdemannii and A. occideiitaltfi 

 are merely dichromatic phases of one species, corresponding to 

 the colored and white phases of the Reddish Egret (/I. rufesc<n« 

 and A. "pealei^'). This hypothesis he would now modify by sug- 

 gesting that A. vjci/rdi is the perfect colored phase of A. occi- 

 dentalis, and that A. xouerdem/innii is merely an intermediate 

 phase, — a suggestion prompted by the circumstance that A. 

 vyuerdemannii varies more in coloi-ation than either of the others, 

 the variations moreover tending toward both A. wardi and A. 

 occidentalu. Whether the intergradation between A. ward!, and 

 A. herodias is the result of hybridization or an evidence of thoir 

 specific identity remains to be determined, if it be possible to 

 determine it. The whole question is indeed so complicated that 

 much patient research will be necessary before we can hope to 

 know more about it. 



Ardea wuerdemannii Baird. 



WU£BS£MAMN'S KEBON. 



Ardea wurdemannUMknji, B. N. Am. 1858. 669. ed. 1860, at!, pi. 86; Cat. N. Am. B. 1859, 

 No. 488.— CouKs, Key, 1872. 267; Chock List, 1873, No. 4(0.— Neu. Bull. Essex In.-t. 

 Dec. 1876, 1.51. 

 Ardta wwrdemannH A.O. U. Check List, 1886, 361 ("Hypothetical List," No.9).— UlBow. 

 Man. N. Am. B. 1887, 128, 588; Proo. U. 8. Nat. Mus. x, 1887, 112-115 (crIlloaD.-ScoTT. 

 Auk. Jan. 1889, 16-17 (doacrlpUon. etc.). 



