THE HERONS 



2061 



twenty-five inches in length, during spring and summer has the whole plum- 

 age pure white, with a crest of two long narrow feathers, some elongated plumes 

 on the lower part of the front of the neck, and the filament-like feathers of the back 

 greatly developed. The beak is black, the lore lavender, the iris varying from 

 yellow to pale lavender, and the legs mostly black, although yellowish interiorly. 

 The winter dress lacks the crest and the plumes on the back. In Southern and 

 Southeastern Europe this egret is a common species, and it ranges thence through 

 Asia Minor and Persia to India, China, and Japan, while it occurs locally through- 



' " ' i ; 



I.ITTLE EGRET. 

 (One-fourth natural size. ) 



out Africa, and has been obtained from Northern Australia. The little egret nests 

 in bushes and trees in the neighborhood of swamps, in company with the other 

 waders; the nest being a platform-like structure of sticks intermingled with a few 

 reeds, upon which are laid from three to six bluish-green eggs. The bird differs 

 from the white heron in being generally very noisy. Both this and the preceding 

 species occur in great numbers on the inland waters of Sind, and both, like the 

 common heron, are kept in confinement by the fishermen. Mr. Hume says that a 

 single boat of about twenty feet in length will contain " a man and his wife, an old 



