ARDEID^E. 377 



upper tail-coverts glossed with green, as is part of the lower 

 back ; tail white. 



The White-necked Stork is tolerably common throughout the 

 region. It is a permanent resident. 



FAMILY, Ardeidae. 



Bill typically more slender than in the Storks, very sharp, 

 deeply cleft ; legs long, scutellated ; toes long, slender ; outer-toe 

 only joined by web to the middle one ; hind-toe long, on the 

 same plane as the others ; middle- toe with the inner edge of the 

 claw dilated and pectinated ; nostrils narrow, at the basal extre- 

 mity of a long furrow. 



GENUS, Ardea, Linn. 



Bill elongate, straight, thick, compressed, pointed ; the upper 

 mandible with a groove from the nostrils, evanescent towards 

 the tip; nostrils near the base narrow, longitudinal, partially 

 concealed by membrane ; wings moderately long, the second, 

 third, and fourth quills usually sub-equal and longest ; tail short, 

 even ; tarsus lengthened, usually scutellate in front ; toes long ; 

 outer-toe connected to the middle one by a web ; claws long, 

 that of the middle-toe with the inner margin produced, and 

 pectinated, of large size, usually grey above, with the neck 

 moderately long and slender, and the feathers of the lower neck 

 and breast lengthened and pendent. 



Ardea cinerea, Lin. 



923. Jerdon's Birds of India, Vol. II, p. 741 ; Butler, Guzerat ; 



Stray Feathers, Vol. IV, p. 23 ; Deccan, Stray Feathers, Vol. - '' 



IX, p. 433 ; Murray's Vertebrate Zoology of Sind, p. 269 ; " 



Swinhoe and Barnes, Central India ; Ibis, 1885, p. 135. 

 THE BLUE HERON. 



Length, 39; expanse, 66; wing, 18; tail, 8 ; tarsus, 5 '75 ; 

 bill at front, 5. 



Bill dark yellow, brownish on culmen ; irides gamboge-yellow ; 

 lores and naked orbitar skin greenish ; legs and feet brown. 



Adult : forehead and crown pure white ; occiput black, and a 

 pendent crest of narrow, long, black feathers at the back of the 

 head ; neck white ; back and wings fine bluish-grey ; quills.. 

 black ; scapulars silvery-grey, long and pointed, forming graceful 

 plumes ; tail bluish-ashy ; forepart of the neck with longitudinal 

 black spots, the feathers drooping down on the top of the breast, 

 loose, and elongated, and forming a fine pectoral plume ; lower 

 breast and the rest of the under parts pure white. 



The young bird has the head and neck ashy, with dusky-grey 

 streaks in front ; the upper plumage tinged with brown ; and 

 the lengthened occipital feathers as well as the breast plumes 

 absent. 



