ARDEIDAE 



93 



in most cases, developed in the nuptial period, and the scapular 

 and jugular feathers are elongated, though not decomposed. The 

 Common Heron (A. cinerea\ ranging through Europe, Africa, and 

 Asia, to Japan and Australia, needs no description, but the Purple 

 Heron, A. (Phoyx) purpurea, though it often occurs in Britain^ is 

 less well known. It is grey, with black crown and black stripes 

 down the sides of the buff neck, chestnut scapulars, rufous, grey, 

 and black jugular plumes, and maroon breast ; the range being from 

 Central and Southern Europe to South Africa, China, and the 

 Philippines. A. herodias of North America meets in northern 

 South America the white-necked A. cocoi, both species resembling 

 A. cinerea, but the 

 former having rufous 

 thighs and edge of the 

 wing. The white A. 

 Occident cdis, of Florida 

 and Cuba, 1 was for- 

 merly thought to be 

 an instance of dichro- 

 matism. The African 

 A. goliath has the 

 head and neck rufous 

 and the under surface 

 chiefly maroon. 



The sexes are 

 usually alike ; but the 

 female has ordinarily 

 shorter plumes, and 

 may be duller, as may 

 the young, though 

 the stages of plumage 

 are not yet com- 

 pletely worked Out. piQ> 2 7. Whale-liead or Shoe-bill. Balaeniceps rex. x T \. 

 White or rufous mark- 

 ings are often noticeable, especially in immature specimens of 

 Ardea; there is little red about the head in those of Dichromanassa, 

 though in Hydranassa the amount is greater than in the adult ; 

 those of Florida are generally very white ; and, conversely, white 



1 Hidgway, Manual N. Amer. Birds, 1887, p. 128. A. wurdemanni of Florida 

 is a close ally. 



