1889.] Scott, Birds of the Gulf Coast of Florida. 17 
birds were solitary in their nesting habits, and not at all common, and 
very shy. Mr. Stuart described the half-grown young to me as similar to 
those of A. ward? of a like age, but as he did not appreciate their value, 
he preserved no skins of them. 
I wish to allude in this connection to a bird which I took near Tarpon 
Springs on July 31, 1886. With some hesitancy, I am obliged to consider 
the specimen in question, No. 5305 of my collection, an adult male in worn 
full plumage, as a hybrid between Wiirdemann’s and Ward’s Heron. 
It is of a considerably lighter and more smoke-colored blue than any 
Ward’s Heron which I have. It has the decidedly white underparts 
streaked with black, and dusky gray and even rusty color characteristic 
of wuerdemannz. The crown patch from the forehead is streaked with 
bluish dusky. The plumes of the lower neck are almost pure white. 
There are so many characters of Wiirdemann’s and Ward’s Heron com- 
bined in this bird, that this seems the only reasonable category to place it 
in, at least till we have further light on the subject. 
Ardea wardi. WaArp’s Heron.—For recent remarks on this species I 
refer the reader to ‘The Auk’ of April, 1888, pp. 183-184. 
I have before me a series of some thirty Ward's Herons in all stages from 
the fledgling birds taken from the nest to those in full adult breeding 
plumage. Of the latter, there are nineteen in number, and it is my 
purpose to give a slight summary of certain features said to charac- 
terize this species. Ad/ of these nineteen birds are in very fine, unworn, 
adult plumage, they having been taken at the beginning of the breeding 
season. Eleven of them, without any apparent correlation to sex, have the 
crown patch streaked and suffused with bluish black or bluish brown. Eight 
have the crown patch untinged and pure white. In the eleven that have 
the crown patch streaked, there is every degree of variation presented 
from an almost obscured crown patch to one only faintly streaked or 
suffused. This streaking or suffusion usually begins on the forehead and 
extends for a greater or less distance backwards till lost in the white of 
the extremity of the crown patch. Avery considerable percentage have 
some of the long occipital plumes not wholly black, but blue or whitish. 
Of the nineteen birds in question only ¢hree have pure black shoulder- 
knots, and the other szxteex present every phase between shoulder-knots 
slightly streaked with white to those heavily and conspicuously striped 
with that color. There is alsoa very considerable individual variation in 
the relative amounts of white and black on the underparts of these nine- 
teen birds. These points have been briefly noticed to show what a wide 
range of variation these birds have in the coloration of special parts. and 
as conflicting somewhat with recent descriptions. 
Mr. Atkins has found the species not infrequently at Key West and has 
lately sent me a young bird of the year from that point, indicating its 
breeding at or near that island. 
Ardea egretta. AMERICAN EGRET.—A rather common resident, though 
not nearly so abundant as in former years. Breeds, according to locality 
and range, from late in January till June and even July. 
