MESOPHOYX. 165 



136. ARDEA SUMATRANA Raffles. 

 ASHY-GRAY HERON. 



Ardea sumatrana RAFFLES, Trans. Linn. Soc. (1882), 13, 325; SHABPE, 

 Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1898), 26, 68; Hand-List (1899), 1, 194; 

 GATES, Cat. Birds' Eggs (1902), 2, 112; MCGREGOR and WORCESTER, 

 Hand-List (1906), 32. 



Bantayan (McGregor); Basilan (McGregor); Bohol (McGregor); Mindoro 

 (Porter); Negros (Keay) ; Palawan (Platen, Whitehead, Celestino, White). 

 Australia, Malay Peninsula, Sunda Islands, Celebes, Aracan, Tenasserim. 



"Adult male. Above dull slaty gray, lower back and rump paler gray ; 

 upper tail-coverts more dusky; scapulars with elongated plumes, pearly 

 white at the ends; wing-coverts and quills dark slaty gray, with a slight 

 greenish gloss on some of them; innermost secondaries elongated and 

 tipped with pearly white, like scapulars; tail-feathers dark slate-color, 

 slightly glossed with green; crown of head slaty gray and crested, crest- 

 feathers with dusky margins, and with some long drooping plumes on 

 nape, which are pearly white at the ends ; sides of face and hinder cheeks 

 pale vinaceous-brown ; fore part of cheeks and upper throat white; neck 

 all round slaty brown, the feathers mostly elongated, and with a mesial 

 streak of white towards the ends; plumes on the fore neck similarly 

 colored, but very much elongated ; remainder of under surface slaty gray, 

 paler on abdomen with longitudinal white centers to the feathers, these 

 being indistinct upon abdomen and under tail-coverts; on each side of 

 upper breast a large patch of slaty gray feathers, very slightly streaked 

 with white ; under wing-coverts and axillars slaty gray with white streaks ; 

 marginal feathers round bend of wing white. 'Bill black, lower mandible 

 yellowish white at base; legs and feet black, soles faded yellow; iris pale 

 orange/ (H. 0. Forbes.) Length, about 1,143; culmen, 173; wing, 

 465; tail, 155; tarsus, 170. 



"Young. Differs from the adult in having no elongated plumes, and 

 being everywhere browner; feathers of the upper surface tipped with a 

 rufous or sandy-buff spot; feathers of neck and under parts vinaceous- 

 rufous with mesial streaks of white, the whole under surface veiy thickly 

 streaked." (Sharpe.) 



This is the very largest of Philippine herons and it may be known at 

 once by its almost uniform slate-gray color. In a male from Bohol the 

 iris was red; bill black, with some yellow on lower mandible; legs and 

 nails blackish brown. Wing, 440 ; tail, 170 ; culmen from frontal feathers, 

 180; tarsus, 164; middle toe with claw, 126; hind toe with claw, 77. 



Genus MESOPHOYX Sharpe, 1894. 



Of medium size ; plumage all white and with long dorsal plumes during 

 the breeding season; primaries exceed the secondaries by length of hind 

 toe with claw; legs and feet black; toes long, culmen much less than 

 middle toe without claw. 



