THE GREY HERONS. 69 



THE GREY HERONS. GENUS ARDEA. 



Ardea, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 283 (1766). 



Type, A. cinerea t Linn. 



In the genus Ardea the tail-feathers are twelve in number, 

 but the middle toe is not so long as in Phoyx, the tarsus being 

 longer than the middle toe and claw combined. The claw on 

 the hallux, or hind-toe, is curved and is not half so long as the 

 hallux itself. The edges of the mandibles are distinctly serrated 

 and there is a faint trace of a notch just before the tip of the 

 upper mandible. This notch, however, is often obsolete. 



I. THE COMMON HERON. ARDEA CINEREA. 



Ardea cinerea^ Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 266 (1766); Macg. Br. 

 B. iv. p. 440 (1852) ; Dresser, B. Eur. vi. p. 207, pi. 395 

 (1875) ; B. O. U. List Br. B. p. 107 (1883) ; Seebohm, 

 Br. B. ii. p. 468 (1884) ; Saunders, ed. Yarr. Br. B. iv. 

 p. 162 (1884); Lilford, Col. Fig. Br. B. part viii. (1888); 

 Saunders, Man. Br. B. p. 355 (1889): Sharpe, Cat B. 

 Brit. Mus. xxvii. p. 76. 



(Plate LX VI.} 



Adult Male. General colour above light ashy-grey, the sca- 

 pulars and innermost secondaries elongated and drooping, 

 forming ornamental plumes of pearly-grey or white ; wing- 

 coverts grey, the outer ones lighter and inclining to pearly-grey 

 or white; quills black, the secondaries externally grey, the 

 inner ones like the back ; tail grey ; crown of head crested, 

 white in the centre, with a broad band of purplish-black on 

 each side ending in a crest on the occiput, from which de- 

 pend two long drooping black plumes ; sides of face, neck, 

 and under surface of body white, with a shade of creamy- 

 lilac on each side of the fore-neck and chest, which have 

 drooping plumes of narrow elongated white feathers; throat 

 and fore neck streaked with black; on each side of the crop 

 a large patch of purplish-black, continued along the sides of 

 the body as far as the sides of the vent ; the sides of the 

 body otherwise light ashy-grey ; thighs and under tail-coverts 

 white ; under wing-coverts ashy-grey ; bill yellow, with the 

 ridge of the upper mandible brown towards the end ; feet dull 



