136 BUFF-BACKED EGRET. 



We have not a British or European specimen 

 before us, and we do not find descriptions agree 

 exactly in the colour and dimensions of some of 

 those parts (the bill and legs), on which, among 

 the Egrets, the specific distinctions in many in- 

 stances rest. The plumage of both sexes, and, so 

 far as we know, of the young, *is pure white, the 

 crest and elongated dorsal feathers being emblems 

 of the season of incubation. The adult birds mea- 

 sure in length three feet four or five inches. The 

 dimensions of the bill and legs are given by 



C Bill about 6 inches. 



Selby, < Tarsi 8 



C Naked part of the tibia . 4| 



C Bill from the eye 

 \ 



v 11 J Tarsi u$ 



>el1 ' 1 Naked part of the tibia, . 3} 

 Middle toe and claw, . 4 J 



The colour of the bill is black, or deep wood- 

 brown, yellow at the base and about the nostrils ;* 

 legs almost black.*)* In the young birds, Mr. Selby 

 states, the bill and legs are greenish-black. 



THE BUFF-BACKED EGRET, E. RUSSATA, Wagler. 

 Ardea (Equinoctialis, Penn. Red-billed Heron, 

 Penn. Little White Heron, Montague. Ardea 

 russata, Wagler. Buff-Backed Heron, Selby, Yar- 

 rell. The occurrence of this Egret in Britain, 

 rests still on the solitary specimen obtained by 

 Colonel Montague, and removed with his collec- 

 * Selby. f Yarrell. 



