ARDKID.K — THK HERoNS — DICHHOMANASSA. 



86 



I'liiriiln, where A. PenkinwA A. rufn brcwl alniiidaiifly, both Jbrnw hove been foiiiul in tlu; same 

 tiint, atti'iidi'il liy pari'iitH cillicr Imth iX'ildisli, lioth white, or oiu; in cacli of thuw Htaj^es of iihima^i; ; 

 ntiuT circuiiistanci'tt at tlie Hainc time h'adiii;,' irrcsintildy to thi; roiicliiHioii tliat tlie two jihaws arc 



^m 



'"''^ 



'N. 



'^ 







\ 





\^n' 



Wkitc p'uisc, = h. " I'ealei." 



not only not specifically distinct, hut that they have nothing to do with either sex, age, or season. 

 Tlip same condition of " dicluDniatisni " exists idso in several Old World species of this family, 

 and probably also in the American Ardea occidentalis, Auu. 



^ 



AViiile aecppting the ideutity of the two forms, rtifti and Pectlei, as one and the 

 same siu'cntically, notwithstanding the incongruities of their plumage, it will be con- 

 vciiii'iit in giving its history as that of one species, at the same time to distinguish 

 tiic white form as IVale's Egret, and tlu^ bliie-and-russet (me as the Reddish Egret, 

 or ruf'i. I'cale's Egret is an extremely southern bird to the United States, occurring 

 only in Florida and on the (}ulf coast to Mexico. It is found in several West India 

 islands, on the ^lexican coast, in Central America, and the northern parts of South 

 Anu'rica, in the last of which its distribution is not ascertained. It is common iu 

 Cuba, where it breeds abundantly, and from whence I have received its eggs from 

 Dr. (Jundlach. It is not given by either Gosse or March as a bird of Jamaica. !Mr. 

 Uri'sser mentions it, on the authority of Dr. Heermann, as not uncommon near San 

 Antonio, Texas, and throughout the eastern part of that State iluring the summer 

 mouths. 



Mr. Salvin nu't with it on the Pacilio coast of Guatenuila, where it was very 

 generally, though nowhere very commoidy, met with among the mud-flats that sur- 

 round the salt-pools in the neighborhood of Chiapam. Mr. (r. C. Taylor mentions it 

 as i)lentiful in all suitable localities in Honduras. In the Bay of Fonseca he noticed 

 large trees overhanging the water, that seemed nearly covered with birds of this form. 

 Audubon regarded it as the young of the Eusset Egret, supposing that in its third 

 sunnuer the white bird would put on the plumage of that bird. The two forms are 

 now regarded as distinctly permanent ; and it is impossible to separate froni Audu- 

 bon's account of the nifescens that which may be peculiar to the whitc-plumaged 

 bird. It is not probable that there exist any very material differences in the habits 

 of the two forms. It is very evident from Audubon's account that they breed together 

 in the same heronries, and that they permit no other kind to frequent the same settle- 



