ARDEID.E — tup: HERONS — AUDEA. 



13 



the head 

 Hy wliitc. 

 jh Egrets 



ink them 

 . 1 exiiiu- 

 : (lark eol- 

 aiul tlieii 



my eom- 

 IP bird ill 

 I, and tlic 

 niangrovi' 

 ity of one 



cainpiiif,'- 

 ? coninum 

 rhe wliitc 

 injjt enijity 

 early fuU- 

 irge white 

 the same, 

 ■iing it to 

 have been 

 eseriptioii 

 , the time, 



rommiasso 

 s presents 

 ioh shows 

 e Heddisli 

 ported by 



, hrrodiax, 

 ler seareli 

 A. Wiinlr- 

 the same 

 ns are so 

 es of bbu' 

 onhl over- 



y a white 

 |)UH in the 

 The case 

 it is now 



/, liOXAI'., 



m])arative 

 Tard, mili- 

 l birds, it 

 les of bird 

 le may be 

 Far East. 



This species inliabits a consideraWe number of ishmds in the Polynesian group, and 

 it has l)eeu noticed and recorded by naturalists who have visited that region, that on 

 some islands all or nearly all the birds of this species are dark-<'olored, on others all 

 or nearly all are white, while on others still there may be a more eipial proi)ortion 

 of tlie two phases. It may be remarked that the two jihases in this species are even 

 more distinct in coloration than in the case of Dir/iruintiiinssa rufn, the colored pliaso 

 being darker than in the latter species. Ujion the whole, even admitting the po.ssi- 

 bility of the white young bird seen l)y Mr. Ward having of its own volition taken up 

 its aboile in a nest containing dark-colored young, I am strongly inclined to believe 

 that it belonged to the same species with the latter, th<' (]ue.stion of its i)arentagc 

 (/■.(■.. whether its parents were white or dark-colored birds) being a comparatively 

 unimportant consideration, as atfecting the main ipiestion. I?ut in adopting the view 

 of their specitic identity, a problem arises which in the light of our present knowledge 

 aj>pears un.solvable, aii<l which may be briefly stated thus: — 



The large *'blut^" Herons obtained by Mr. Ward are, in every respect as regards 

 size and proportions, identical with Ardea ocrii/enfa/ls, Ai;n., and A. Wiinlcmanni, 

 IJ.viun; in i'oloration they agree exactly with the latter, except only in the pattern 

 of the head and tint of the neck, which are precisely as in A. heroil'ui.s. The bird in 

 question is apparently "dichromatic," liaving a white jihase ; lience, assunung that 

 A. nrridrnfdh's and ./. ff'iirdrniniui! are dichromatic phases of one sjjccies, it necessa- 

 rily follows that white individuals of the bird in (picstion would be iihxohitclif indis- 

 thifiu'ishdhlv from irliltr I'.rdiii/drs of A. urchlnttdHs ! Still, in view of the fact that 

 the colored phase dilfers from A. fHirdcmiiiiii! in its most essential feature of colora- 

 tion, i.i: the i)attern of the head-markings, it seems impossible to unite them, unless 

 it can be shown that the type of A. WiirdiniKtiuil does not represent the perfect 

 colored phase of that species.' There are hence several hypotheses which might be 

 plausibly argued upon theoretical grounds, and which nuiy be stated as follows: 



(1) That A. o(r!(/ciif(i/!s, A. ff 'iirdfi/iinnii, A. If'ardl, and A. /irivdliis all belong to a 

 single S])ecies, which reaches its extrenu-s of variation in tiie first- and last-nanu'd ; 



(2) That these nanu'S include three distinct nu'cs or species : A. hcrodias, wh'wh is 

 never white ; ./. i>crldriif(i/is, which is dichromatic (having separate white and colored 

 phases), and ./. Ildn/I, also dichromatic, its white phase indistinguishable from that 

 of A. occidcntoHn, and its colored phase distinguishable from that of the same species 

 (.(. Wiii'drmann!) by the different pattern and color of the head and neck alone; and 

 (;j) that there are two species, A. orvldvntalU and A. /irrodlns, which in Florida 

 hybridize on an extensive scale, producing the intermediate specimens which have 

 been distinguished as A. Ifiirdrmnnni and A. Ward!. 



Of these hypotheses I have, after careful consideration of them all, concluded to 

 adopt the second, as being most consistent Avith known facts, and have accordingly 

 proposed for the bird in question ihe name given above. 



Ardea herodias. 



THE OBEAT BLUE HEBON. 



A^-dca hcrndias, LiNN. S. N. I. 17.'')S, 143, cd. 12, I. 17t)ii, '237. - Wii,s. Am. Orn. VIII. 1814, 28, 

 )>1. 65, fig. 5. — Sw. & Rich. F. H. A. II. 1831, 373. — Nurr. Man. II. 1834, 42. — Aui). Orii. Biog. 



' . tor many careful examinations of the tyiw speeinien, I am led to the conclusion that it docs rcpre- 

 ?^8cnt the pei-fect colored pliase, since no combination or division of the markings of A. herodias and 

 : y/. occidenfa fin — or, in other words, no jiartial development of the head-pattern of the former— would 

 ,1 give the peculiar markings which ilistinguish A, inirdemanni. 



