ARDEIDJi;— THli; HKllONS. 120* 



T<yal length, about 20.00-27.25; expanse of wings, about 36.00-10.00: wing. 8. 20-10. .jO; tall. 

 :i.0O-l.»i:.'Ulmen. 2.08-3. (B: depth of bill. .40-.56; tarsus, 3.15-1.50; middle toe, 2.20-3.20; bare 

 portion of tibia. 1.70-2.75; weight, about 10-14 ounces. 



This beautiful eu:ret occurs during .summer in various parts 

 of the State, but probably not abundantly except iu the more 

 southern portions. 



SuBOENUs Dichromanassa Rrnnw.w. 



Dichromanassa Ridgw. Bull. U. S. Geol. &, Geog. Survey. Terr. iv. No. 1. Feb. 5. 1878, 246. 

 Type. Arden rufa Bodd.. =A. t^fescens Gmel. 



SuBGEN. Chab. Medium-sized Herons, of uniform white or plumbeous plumage, with 

 (adult) or without (young) einnamon-colored head and neck ; the form .slender, the toes very 

 short, and the logs vory long; the adults with the entire head and neck (except throat and 

 foreneck) covered with long, narrowly lanceolate, compactly webbed feathers, which on the 

 occiput form an ample crest, the feathers of which are very narrowly lanceolate actl 

 decurved. 



Bill much longer than the middle toe (about two thirds the tarsus), the upper and lower 

 outlines almost precisely similar in contour, being nearly parallel along the middle portion, 

 where slightly approximated; the terminal portion of both oulmen and gonys gently and 

 about equally curved. Mental apex extending to a little more than one third the distance 

 from the middle of the eye to the lip of the bill, or to about even with the anterior end of 

 the nostril; malar apex about even with that of the frontal feathers. Toes very short, the 

 middle one less than half the tarsus, the hallux less than half the middle toe; bare portion 

 of tibia more than half as long as tarsus; scutollation of tarsus, etc.. as in Ilerodias, Gar- 

 zelta, and alied subgenera. 



Plumes of the adult consisting of a more or less lengthened train of fastigiate, stiff- 

 shafted feathers, with long, loose, and straight plumules, and extending beyond the tail: in 

 oildition to this train, the scapulars and the feathers of the whole head and neck, except thi; 

 throat and foreneck, are long and narrow, distinctly lanceolate, and acuminate, with com- 

 pact webs, and on the occiput are developed into an ample decurved crest 



There is only one species bclonainf^ to this subgenus, the di- 

 chromatic Ai'dfM rufescens G.MEL., the white phase of which was 

 formerly considered a distinct species, uuder the name of I'eale's 

 Egret {Ardea pealel Bon.vp.). 



Ardea rufescens Gmel. 



REDDISH EGHET, 

 Popular synonTms. Russet Egret; P'^ale's Egret. 



a. Colored Phase, 

 L' Aigrette rousse, rle la Louisiane BuFK. PI. Enl. 1777-1781. pi. 902 (adult). 

 Ardea rufa. Bodd. (nee Bcop. 1769) Tabl. P. K. 17H;t. 51 (ha^eil on PI. r.nl. ;K)2).— Cot'ES. Ker, 

 1872, 2«8; Check List, 1873, No. t'.5.— Reichenow, J. f. O. Is77. '.'a'.i — A. O. D. Chock Lift, 

 1886, No. 198.— RiDOW. Man. N. Am. B. 1887. I.'ll. 

 Vemiegretia ni/a Baiud. Birds N. Am. 18')8,6<i2; Cat. N. Am. B. 1859. No. 48:{. 



