GRALLATORT^. 335 



(The purple Heron.) Grey and red, or purple r belongs also to 

 ' Europe. 

 The name of Crab-eaters, (Crabiers,) has been applied to the 

 smallest Herons, with shorter feet. The species most common in 

 France, and found in its mountain districts, is, 



Ard, minuta and danuhialis, Gm. ; Le Blongios; Enl. 323; 



Frisch, 207; Naum. Ed. I, 28, f. 37. Fawn coloured; calotte, back, 



and quills black. It is hardly larger than a Rallus, and frequents 



the vicinity of ponds, 



The Onores, to the form of the Crabeaters, add the size of the true 



Heron, and the colour of the bitterns*. 



The Egrets are Herons whose feathers, on the lower part of the 

 back, at a certain period become long and attenuated. 



The most beautiful species, whose feathers are employed for the pur- 

 pose which the name of these birds indicates, are: 



Ard. garzetta, Enl. 901. (The little Egret.) But half the size 

 of the Heron. It is all white, and its slender feathers do not ex- 

 tend beyond the tail. 



Jrd. alba, Enl. 886. (The Great Egret.) This one is also en- 

 tirely white, but larger. Both these species are found in Europe ; 

 there is a third, whose tarsi are shorter, and whose attenuated fea- 

 thers extend considerably beyond the tail; it is the Ard. egretta, 

 Enl. 925 f. 

 We have also thought it proper to approximate to the Egrets the 



Ard. comata, Gm. ; Enl. 348; Naum. Ed. I, 22, f. 45. (The 

 Crab-eater of Mahon.) A bird of southern Europe, with a reddish- 

 brown back, and wings, belly, and tail, white. The adult has a 

 yellowish neck, and a long tuft on the occiput J. 

 The feathers on the neck of the Bitterns are loose and separated, 

 which increases its apparent size. They are usually spotted or striped. 



trix, T. Col. 271; — ^. ludoviciann, Gm. Enl. 909, from which the A. virescens does 

 not specifically differ; — J. Nova-Guince, Lath. Enl. 926, approaches somewhat to the 

 A. scolopacea, Gm. in the bill. 



* A.lineala, Gm. Enl. 860; — A. tigrina, Id. Enl. 790, which appears to be the 

 young of A.flava, Gm. 



f Temminck thinks that the A. alba is the young of the A. egretta, and that the 

 pi. Enl. 901, does not represent the Little Egret of Europe, but that of America. 



X From the exact observations of Meyer, the A. caslanea, Gm. or the ralloides^^ 

 Scopol.; — A. sqiiaiotta; — A. MarsigUi; — A. pumila, and even A. erythropus, and A. ma- 

 laccensis, Gm. Enl. 911, are all mere varieties, or different ages of the Crab-eater of 

 Mahon, or A. comata. The A. senegalensis, Enl. 315, is also a young offspring of the 

 same bird. It is perhaps the true Crane of the Balearic Islands of Pliny, XI, 37. 



Add, A. caudidiss'ima, Wils. LXIII, 4; — the Garde hoeuf, A. bubukus, Savign. Eg. 

 Ois., pi. viii; — A. leucocephala, Gm. Enl. 910; — A. jugularis, Forster, or ^ularis, 

 Bosc, Act. de la Soc. d'Hist. Nat. fol. pi. ii. or albicollis, Vieill. Galer. 253; — A. 

 earulea, Enl. 349, of which the A. aquinoctialis, Catesb. may probably be the young, 

 notwithstanding the difference of colour; — A. rufcscens, Gm. Enl. 902 ; — A. leucogaster, 

 Enl. 350;—^. agami, Enl. 859 (a). 



(a)^^ Add A. Pealii, Bonap. and R. ludoviciana, Wils. VIII, pL Ixir, f. 1. 

 "-Eng. Ed.] 



