ARDEA. 383 



The Common Heron is generally solitary, and may be seen standing 

 on the edge of water, river, marsh, or tank, looking out for food, 

 chiefly small fish and frogs. It flies heavily with its neck bent 

 and head drawn in, and it has a deep-sounding sonorous call-note, 

 often uttered during flight. The breeding-season is generally in 

 India from March to May, July and August in Sind, November 

 to March in Ceylon. The Common Heron makes a stick-nest on a 

 tree, several pairs often nesting in company, and lays in India, as 

 a rule, three bluish-green eggs, measuring on a average 2-27 by 1-66. 



1556. Ardea sumatrana. The Dusky-grey Heron. 

 Ardea sumatrana, Raffles, Tr. Linn. Soc. xiii, p. 325 (1822) ; Blyth 



Cat. p. 278; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 740, pt.t Blyth, Ibis, 1865, 



p. 36 ; Blyth, Birds Burm. p. 159 ; Hume $ Dav. S. F. vi, p. 469 ; 



Hume, Cat. no. 922 bis; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 244: Sharpe, Cat. 



B. M. xxvi, p. 68. 

 Ardea fusca, Blyth, A. M. N. H. xiii, p. 176 (1844). 



Coloration. Crown and upper surface, with quills and tail- 

 feathers, dark sJaty ; long occipital crest-feathers, sometimes 9 

 inches in length, and lanceolate tips of scapulars pearly white, as 

 are also the greatly lengthened and acuminate feathers at base of 

 neck all round, longest on the fore neck and upper breast ; chin 

 and fore part of cheeks white ; sides of head and neck all round 

 ruddy brownish grey, becoming vinaceous on throat and darker 

 on hind neck ; lower parts slaty grey, with a lilac tinge and some 

 white shaft-stripes. 



Young birds have no elongate plumes, and are browner, the 

 feathers of the upper surface have rufous tips, and the lower 

 surface is rufescent grey, streaked with whitish. 



Bill black, the lower mandible yellowish white at the base ; 

 irides pale orange ; legs and feet black, soles faded yellow 

 (H. 0. Forbes). 



Length 50; tail 6-5; wing 18-5; tarsus 67; bill from 

 gape 7*5. 



Distribution. Arrakan, Southern Tenasseriin, the Malay 

 Peninsula and Archipelago, and Australia. A specimen in the 

 British Museum is said to be from N.E. Bengal, but is more 

 probably from Arrakan. This species was once supposed to 

 inhabit Sind, but no importance can now be attached to the 

 evidence upon which its occurrence in that province was inferred. 



Habits, $c. This large Heron is said to be confined in Tenas- 

 serim to the sea-coast and the mouths of rivers and estuaries. It 

 is found singly, feeding on small fish, crabs, &c., which it finds on 

 the mud-flats at low tide, and perching on the mangroves when 

 the water is high. 



1557. Ardea insignis. The Great White-bellied Heron. 

 Ardea insignis, Hodf/s. in Gray's Zool. Misc. p. 86 (1844), descr. 

 imlla ; Hume, S. F. vi, p. 470 (1878), descr. princ. ; Oates, B. B. 

 ii, p. 245 ; id. in Hume's N. Sf E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 232; Sharpe, Cat. 

 B. M. xxvi, p. 70. 



