384 AEDEID^E. 



Ardea nobilis, apud Gray, Cat. Mamm. fyc. Coll. Hodgs. p. 133 



(1846); nee Blyth. 

 Ardea sumatrana, apud Blyth, Cat. p. 278, pt. ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, 



p. 740, pt. ; Hume, N. $ E. p. 610; nee Raffles. 

 Ardea fusca, apud Hume, Cat. no. 922; Cripps, S. F. xi, p. 332; 



nee Blyth. 



Coloration. Similar to A. sumatrana, but greyer and not so dark 

 above, the wings and tail-feathers bluish grey ; neck and sides of 

 head purer grey and less rufous ; the breast-plumes have white 

 ends and shaft-stripes, and, especially, the lower breast, abdomen, 

 under tail-coverts, axillaries, and wirfg-lining are white ; thigh- 

 coverts white in front, grey behind. 



Young birds want the ornamental plumes, and have the upper 

 surface brownish. They may be recognized at once by the white 

 breast and abdomen. 



Coloration of soft parts not recorded. Tail 8*5 ; wing 21-5 ; 

 tarsus 7*5 ; bill from gape 8. 



Distribution. This species is known from the Terai of Nepal, 

 Sikhim, and Bhutan, where it has been collected by Hodgson and 

 Mandelli. Cripps states that he once saw it above Negheri Ting 

 in Upper Assam, and Gates records it from Bhamo. It is just 

 possible that some of the large Herons seen at times in the 

 Peninsula of India may have belonged to this species. 



Habits, $c. Hume says that a huge stick-nest on a tree in the 

 swampy Terai was pointed out to him as belonging to this bird r 

 which was said to breed in July and August. 



1558. Ardea goliath. The Giant Heron. 



Ardea goliath, Cretzschm. in Rilpp. Atlas, p. 39, pi. 36 (1826) ; 



Temm. PI. Col pi. 474 (1829) ; Blyth, Cat. p. 278 ; id. J. A. S. B. 



xxiv, p. 280 ; Jerdon, B. 1. 'iii, p. 739 ; Blyth, Ibis, 1865, p. 36 ; 



Hume, N. $ E. p. 610 ; id. S. F. i, p. 105 ; Blanf. Eastern Persia, 



ii, p. 295 ; Hume, S. F. \, p. 105 ; vii, p. 490 ; id. Cat. no. 921 ; 



Legge, Birds Ceyl. p. 1124; Parker, S. F. ix, p. 486; Butler, 



S. F. x, p. 149 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxvi, p. 66. 

 Ardea nobilis, Blyth, A. M. N. H. xiii, p. 175 (1844). 



Coloration. In the adult (only known from Africa), the crown 

 and crest are deep vinous chestnut, neck behind and on the sides 

 rufous cinnamon, chin, cheeks, and throat white, lower fore neck 

 purplish black streaked with white, elongate breast-plumes streaked 

 white and slaty black; upper parts, wings, and tail slaty grey; 

 lower parts from the breast, lower tail-coverts, sides of body, and 

 wing-lining deep chestnut. 



In young birds the colours are dull, the head and neck much 

 paler, the grey of the upper parts with rufous edgings ; lower 

 parts white streaked with brown. 



Bill dark slaty, lower mandible fleshy with a dark margin ; irides 

 yellow with reddish margins ; eyelid pale slaty ; legs and feet 

 dark slaty blackish {Legge}. The genys is more curved than in 

 other species of Ardea. 



Length 56 ; tail 8-5 ; wing 24 ; tarsus 9 ; bill from gape 9'5. 



