286 BIRDS OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



Buff^bacfceb Iberon, 



THE Buff-backed Heron (Ardea bubulcus, Audouin) is an 

 exceedingly rare abnormal spring and autumn migrant to 

 the British Isles. It inhabits Southern Europe and Africa, 

 but is met with in the south-western parts of Asia. The 

 adult male in summer has the plumage of the head, neck, 

 breast, and the elongated filamentous feathers of plumes, 

 rusty-buff; remainder of plumage, white; irides, yellowish- 

 pink ; bill, reddish at base, yellow at tip ; legs, yellowish ; 

 lores, yellow. Length, from eighteen to twenty inches. 

 The female resembles the male, but is rather less, and the 

 plumes are smaller. 



