9 2 



CICONIIFORMES 



CHAP. 



South America is metallic green, with rufous and white throat, 

 rufous belly, black cheeks and nape ; the very long occipital and 

 dorsal plumes being grey, as is the fore-neck, and the recurved 



feathers of the sides 

 of the neck reddish. 

 A. (Garzetta) garzetta, 

 the "Little Egret," 

 which has strayed to 

 Britain, and extends 

 from South Europe to 

 the whole of Africa, 

 India, and Japan, is 

 entirely white, with 

 long filamentous 

 scapular and moderate 

 jugular plumes and 

 two lengthened crest- 

 feathers, all of which 

 are said to be tem- 

 porarily lost after 

 breeding. A. nigripes, 

 ranging from Java to 

 Australia, is barely 

 distinguishable, but 

 the American repre- 

 sentative, A. candi- 

 dissima, has a large 

 occipital tuft. A. 

 (Herodias) alba, the 

 "Great White Heron," 

 another of our rare 

 visitors, extends from the middle of Europe to most of Africa, 

 Central Asia, and the Burmese countries, beyond which a doubt- 

 fully distinct species, with yellower bill, reaches Australia and New 

 Zealand ; the American A. egretta, however, differs in its black 

 legs. The breeding adult is white, with very long decomposed 

 scapular and lengthened jugular plumes, but no crest. The most 

 typical forms of Ardea are large slaty-coloured birds, varied by 

 black, rufous, and white, the head being commonly darker and 

 the lower parts striped ; while two slender occipital plumes are, 



FIG. 26. Common Heron. Ardea cinerea. 



