168 MANUAL OF PHILIPPINE BIRDS. 



"Young. Resembling the winter plumage of the adult." (Sharpe.) 

 The lesser and little white egrets are birds of wide distribution, usually 

 found singly along sandy shores or in the vicinity of mangrove swamps. 



Genus DEMIGRETTA Blyth, 1846. 



In size of body and proportional size of bill, legs, and feet this genus 

 is very similar to Egretta but the legs are feathered nearer to the heel 

 and the plumage is normally slate-blue. 



140. DEMIGRETTA SACRA (Gmelin). 

 BLUE REEF HERON. 



Ardea sacra GMELIN, Syst. Nat. (1788), 1, pt. 2, 640. 



Demiegretta sacra SHABPE, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1898), 26, 137; Hand- 

 List (1899), 1, 198; GATES, Cat. Birds' Eggs (1902), 2, 122; Mc- 

 GBEOOB and WORCESTER, Hand-List (1906), 33. 



Lepterodius saccr BLANFORD, Fauna Brit. Ind. Bds. (1898), 4, 391, fig. 93. 



Ta-ld-bon, Ticao. 



Balabac (Steere Exp., Everett) ; Bantayan (McGregor); Batan (McGregor); 

 Bohol (Steere Exp., McGregor); Bongao (Everett); Cagayancillo (McGregor); 

 Cagayan Sulu (Guillemard) ; Calayan (McGregor); Cebu (Murray, McGregor); 

 Cuyo (McGregor); Fuga (McGregor) ; Lubang (McGregor); Luzon (Bourns d 

 Worcester, Whitehead ) ; Marinduque ( Steere Exp. ) ; Masbate ( Bourns d Wor- 

 cester) ; Mindanao (Bourns & Worcester, Mearns) ; Mindoro (Bourns & Wor- 

 cester, McGregor) ; Negros (Bourns & Worcester, Keay) ; Panay (Bourns d 

 Worcester); Pata ( M earns ); Romblon (Bourns d Worcester, McGregor); Semi- 

 rara ^Worcester) ; Sibuyan (Bourns d Worcester, McGregor) ; Siquijor (Bourns 

 d Worcester); Sulu ( Guillemard ) ; Tablas (Bourns d Worcester); Tawi Tawi 

 (Bourns d Worcester) ; Ticao (McGregor). Coast of Bay of Bengal to Australia 

 and Oceania, north to Japan and Korea. 



"Adult male in breeding plumage. General color deep blackish slate; 

 head almost black; feathers of upper breast elongated like those of the 

 middle of the back, some of the latter decomposed ; the elongated feathers 

 of a paler slaty gray, and those of back reaching to end of tail; head 

 crested and of the same color as the back; abdomen and vent-feathers 

 tinged with ashy; a pure white streak down the center of the throat. 

 Length, 584; culmen, 71; wing, 254; tail, 79; tarsus, 74. 



"Adult female in breeding plumage. Similar to the male, but the 

 ornamental plumes slightly less developed. Length, 533; wing, 259. 



"Young. Paler and more sooty brown than the adults, and bleaching 

 often to a slight earthy brown. No ornamental plumes on head, back, 

 and chest. 



"Adult birds, either in winter plumage or perhaps in the second year, 

 are blacker than in the summer plumage. Some of these black-plumage 



