ARDEID^E ABDEA 61 



mottled with white in front ; edge of the wing white ; lower third 

 of the neck slaty-grey with decomposed and elongated plumes ; 

 the rest of the lower surface slaty grey, becoming a good deal 

 paler on the under tail-coverts ; under wing-coverts and axillaries 

 white. 



Iris yellow ; bare skin round the eye at the base of the bill 

 whitish-buff; bill slaty-brown, paler on the lower mandible; legs 

 and feet black. Length (in flesh) 38 ; wing 15'5; tail 60; culmen 

 4-8; tarsus 5-25; middle toe 3-40. 



The female resembles the male, but the ornamental plumes are 

 less developed. The young bird is less strongly coloured ; the crown 

 and hind neck are slaty-grey ; the throat and front of the neck, and 

 the whole of the under parts are white, slightly tinged here and 

 there with pale rufous. 



FIG. 18. Head of Ardea melanocephala. x | 



Distribution. The Black-headed Heron is found throughout the 

 greater part of Africa from Bornu, near Lake Chad, whence it was 

 first brought home by Denham and Clapperton, and from Abyssinia 

 southwards ; it also occurs in Madagascar, and is a straggler into 

 North Africa and Southern Europe. 



In South Africa it is found wherever conditions are favourable, 

 and is probably just as abundant as the Grey Heron, but, owing 

 to its resemblance to it, it often escapes notice. The following are 

 recorded localities : Cape Colony Cape division (Layard and S. A. 

 Mus.), Berg River, breeding (Layard), Deelfontein (Seimund), 

 Middelburg division (S. A. Mus.), Colesberg (Layard), and Port St. 

 John's March, October (Shortridge) ; Natal near Durban (Ayres), 

 Ingagane Eiver near Newcastle, June (Feilden) ; Orange Eiver 



