292 HERQNSY STORKS, AND TIBISES. 
tarsus and feet is brown, the claws being black. A straggler to Britain, the 
purple heron is common in Holland and Spain, and ranges over the greater part 
of Europe to the southward of Central Germany. To the eastward it ranges from 
the Mediterranean to the Indian region, the north of China, and the Philippines, 
in such districts as are suitable to its habits, but only breeds in the warmer 
regions. Common and resident in Egypt, it appears to be mainly a winter 



















































































GOLIATH HERON IN BREEDING PLUMAGE (4 nat. size). 
visitor to most other parts of Africa, although it is a permanent inhabitant of 
certain marshy districts. The last member of this group of the genus we shall 
notice is the goliath heron (A. goliath), of which the total length is about half as 
much again as that of the common species. In this splendid bird the crest takes 
the form of a number of moderately long pointed feathers. The head and crest, 
the point of the shoulder, and the under-parts, with the exception of the white 
throat, are reddish chestnut-brown; the sides and back of the neck bright bluish 
grey ; the upper-parts a more ashy grey; and the long loose plumes on the front 
