ARDEA. 11>1 



Order ARDEIFORMES. 



Suborder ARDE^E. 

 Family ARDEIMJ. 



Genus ARDEA Linnceits, Syst. Nat. 1758, p. 141. 

 Type : A. cinerea Linn. 

 j4r<?!=the Heron, in Virgil, Georg. i. 364; cognate with the classical 



Greek eowtiiof, of which the supposed primitive form, ptaSios, occurs in 

 Hipponax (about 546 B.C.). 



Ardea cinerea. HERON. 



Ardea Cinerea Linnaeus, Syst. Nat. 1758, p. 143: Sweden. 



Ardea cinerea Linn. ; Sharpe, Cat. Birds B. M. xxvi. 1898, p. 74 ; 

 B. O. V. List, 1st ed. 1883, p. 107; Sounders, Manual, 

 2nd ed. 1899, p. 367. 

 Cmerea= ash-coloured, from cinis= ashes. 



Distribution in the British Islands. A Resident, generally 

 distributed and collecting into colonies during the breeding- 

 season. 



General Distribution. The Heron breeds throughout the 

 greater part of Europe and Asia from about 60 N. latitude 

 southwards ; also in both northern and southern Africa, and 

 probably in most parts of that continent as well as in Mada- 

 gascar. From the northern parts of its range it is migratory, 

 and has been recorded from the Malay Islands and Australia. 

 It has occurred in south Greenland, Iceland, and the Faeroes. 



Ardea purpurea. PURPLE HERON. 



Ardea purpurea Linnceus, Syst. Nat. 12th ed. i. 17CG, 

 p. 236 : France. 



Ardea purpurea Linn. ; B. O. U. List, 1st ed. 1883, p. 108 ; 



Sounders, Manual, 2nd ed. 1899, p. 369. 

 Phoyx purpurea Sliarpe, Cat. Birds B. M. xxvi. 1898. p. 60. 



Piirpf'reft purple. 



