66 ALLEN'S NATURALIST'S LIBRARY. 



and there are other distinctive characteristics which do not here 

 particularly concern us, as the representatives of these families 

 are purely African. 



THE PURPLE HERONS. GENUS PHOYX. 



Phoyx, Stejneger, Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. x. p. 311 (1887). 



Type, P. purpurea (Linn.). 



The Purple Herons are remarkable for their long toes, which 

 differ from those of all other Herons. They have twelve tail- 

 feathers, thus differing from the Bitterns, which have only ten, 

 and the middle toe is very long, in fact equal to the tarsus 

 in length. The hind-claw is very large and powerful, and is 

 nearly straight, with a very slight curve. 



I. THE PURPLE HERON. PHOYX PURPUREA. 



Ardea purpurea^ Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 236 (1766); Macgill. 



Brit. B. iv. p. 453 (1852); Dresser, B. Eur. vi. p. 217, pi. 



396 (1875); Seebohm, Brit. B. ii. p. 473 (1885); Saun- 



ders, ed. Yarr. Brit. B. iv. p. 172 (1885); id. Man. Brit. 



B- p. 357 (1889); Lilford, Col. Fig. Brit. B. part xi. 



(1889). 

 Phoyx purpurea, Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xxvi. p. 60. 



(Plate LXV.) 



Adult Male. General colour above dark slaty-grey, with the 

 scapulars and inner secondaries elongated and composed of 

 rufous and hoary-grey plumes ; wing-coverts light slaty-grey, 

 the lesser series inclining to maroon-brown ; quills black, the 

 'secondaries externally greyer and glossed with olive-green, the 

 inner ones almost entirely grey ; tail grey ; head crested, black, 

 and having two long black feathers depending from the nape ; 

 sides of face and sides of neck bright chestnut, with a black 

 line running from the base of the bill across the ear-coverts and 

 uniting on the nape and extending down half of the hind-neck, 

 which is slaty-grey ; a second black line starting from the base 

 of the bill and extending down the sides of the neck, where it 

 forms a broad band ; cheeks, throat, and fore-neck white, with 

 some black streaks in the centre of the lower throat, these 

 streaks becoming larger on the fore-neck ; on each side of the 



