Heron. GRALLATORES. ARDEA. 21 
when in the summer plumage, a course of long plumes 
spring from the back, immediately behind the shoul- 
ders, and hang over the tail. The webs of these fea- 
thers are long, divided, hair-like, and silky, and are si- 
milar in their formation and texture to those of the 
Lesser Egret (Ardea garzetta) and the American Great 
Egret (Ardea egretta). 'The bill is of a deep wood- 
brown colour, becoming more tinged with yellow about 
the nostrils. ‘The culmen is blackish-brown. The lores 
and orbits are greyish-green : irides orange-yellow. The 
legs and toes are yellowish-brown, tinged with red. The 
young, and adults previous to the spring-moulting, are 
destitute of the long dorsal plumes; and the legs of the 
former are of a greenish-black colour ; their bill black- 
ish-green, tinged with yellow. 
The adult bird measures three feet four or five inches in 
length; the bill about six inches; the tarsi eight inches ; 
and the naked part of the tibia four inches and a half 
long. 
LITTLE EGRET HERON. . 
Arpea GArzeTra, Linn. 
PLATE V. 
Ardea garzetta, Linn. Syst. 1. 937. 13.—Gmel. Syst. 1. 628.—Lath. Ind. 
Ornith. 2. 694. 64.—Wagler, Syst. Av. 1. sp. 10.—Shaw’s Zool. 11. 545. 
—Temm. Man. d’Ornith. 2. 574. but not all his synonyms. 
Ardea nivea, Gmel. Reise, 1. 164. 
Ardea xanthodactylos, Gme/. Reise, 3. 253. the young. 
Ardea alba minor, Will. young. 
Egretta, Briss. 5. 431. 16. 
Garzetta, Raii Syn. 99. 5.— Will. 206. 
L’Aigrette, Buff. Ois. 7. 372. 20. 
Heron garzette, Temm. Man. d’Ornith. 2. 574. 
Lesser White Heron, Wii/. (Angl.) 280. 5. 
Little Egret, Br. Zool. App. t. 7.—Arct. Zool. 2. No. 347.—Lath. Syn. 5. 
p- 90. 59.—Mont. Ornith. Dict.—Shaw’s Zool. 11. 545. pl. 41. 
Ir the birds mentioned in the bill of fare at the famous 
feast of Archbishop Nrvit.e, in the reign of Henry IV. 
