382 



in thickets or in dense clumps of bulrushes, and makes large 

 stick-nests, in which it lays 4, or sometimes 5, bluish-green eggs, 

 measuring about 2-17 by 1'56. The breeding-season in most 

 parts of India and Burma is July and August, but in Ceylon 

 December to March. 



1555. Ardea cinerea. The -Common Heron. (Fig. 84, p. 359.) 

 Ardea cinerea, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 236 (1766) ; Blyth, Cat. p. 278 ; 



Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 741 ; Hume fy Henders. Lah. to York. p. 295 ; 



Hume, N. $ E. p. 610; id. S. F. i, p. 253 ; Adam, ibid. p. 399 ; 



Blyth, Birds Burin, p. 159 ; Butler $ Hume, S. F. iv, p. 23 ; 



Hume, ibid. p. 465 ; Hume $ Dav. S. F. vi, p. 472 ; Ball, S. F. vii, 



p. 230 ; Cripps, ibid. p. 307 ; Hume, Cat. no. 923 ; Doit/, S. F. viii, 



p. 371; Leffffe, Birds Ceyl. p. 1127; Vidal, S. I\ ix, p. 88; 



Butler, ibid. p. 433; Biddulph, Ibis, 1881, p. 99; Scully, ibid. 



p. 591 ; Reid, S. F. x, p. 74 ; Davidson, ibid. p. 323 ; Hume, ibid. 



p. 416 ; Stcinh. Ibis, 1882, p. 123 ; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 243 ; id. Ibis, 



1888, p. 73; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 377; id. Jour. Bom. N. H. 



Soc. vi, p. 142 ; Hume, S. F. xi, p. 332 ; Oates in Hume's N. 8f E. 



2nd ed. iii, p. 233; Sharpe, Yark. Miss., Aves, p. 124; id. 



Cat. B. M. xxvi, p. 74. 

 Ardea brag, Is. Geoffr. in Jacguem. Voy. iv, Ois. p. 85, pi. 8 (1844). 



The Blue Heron, Jerdon ; Nari, Sain, Kabud, Anjan, H. ; Khyra, in 

 Behar ; Sada-kanka, Anjan, Beng. ; Saa, Sind ; Narraina pachi, Tel. ; 

 Narrayan, Tarn. ; Kallapua-karaival-koka, Induru-koka, Cing. 



Coloration. Head white, with the exception of the occiput, 

 nuchal plumes, and a broad band from the occiput to each eye, 

 which are purplish black ; neck white, tinged with greyish lilac, 

 low r er fore neck streaked with black; upper parts from neck, 

 including tertiaries, wing-coverts, and tail-feathers, ashy grey, the 

 scapulars with elongate pearly-grey or whitish tips, outer wing- 

 coverts pale or whitish ; primaries and secondaries, primary-coverts 

 and winglet bluish black ; elongate breast-plumes white ; middle 

 of breast and abdomen, thigh-coverts and lower tail-coverts white ; 

 a black patch of lengthened plumes on each side of the breast, 

 continued as a black band on each side of the abdomen to near the 

 vent ; sides of body, flanks, and wing-lining ashy grey. 



In females the black crest-plumes are shorter and the black 

 feathers on each side of the breast less prominent. 



Young birds have the head and neck grey, except a small black 

 nuchal crest, and white chin and throat ; scapular and breast- 

 plumes wanting, and no black on the breast, though the black 

 streaks on the fore neck are very conspicuous ; upper plumage 

 brownish grey. 



Bill dusky yellow, culmen brownish ; loral skin greenish ; iris 

 golden yellow ; legs and feet greenish brown, with the tibia and 

 posterior part of the tarsus greenish yellow r (Legye). 



Length 39 ; tail 7 ; wing 18 ; tarsus 6 ; bill from gape 6. 



Distribution. The greater part of the Old World. Common in 

 most parts of India and Ceylon; less common, though widely 

 distributed, in Burma. 



Habits, <Sfc. A resident bird, breeding in many parts of India. 



