18 GRALLATORES. ARDEA. HERON. 
tinged with reddish-brown. The neck is pale reddish- 
brown, without the black lists. The front of the neck 
is yellowish-white, with longitudinal black spots. ‘The 
back, scapulars, wings, and tail deep-grey ; the feathers 
margined with reddish-brown. The belly and thighs are 
reddish-white. The upper mandible is blackish-brown ; 
the under one, the lores, and eyes, are pale yellow. 
As the young bird advances towards maturity, the tints 
become purer in colour, and it approaches, by degrees, 
to the fine plumage that distinguishes the adult. 
GREAT WHITE HERON. 
Arpe4 ALBA, Linn. 
PLATE IV. 
Ardea alba, Linn. Syst. 1. 239. 24.—Gmel. Syst. 1. 639.—Lath. Ind. Orn. 
2. 695. 65.— Wagler, Syst. Av. 1. sp. 8. 
Ardea candida, Briss. 5. 428. 15. 
Ardea alba major, Raii Syn. p. 99. A. 4. 
Ardea Egrettoides, Gmel. Reise, 2. 193. t. 25. 
Heron Aigrette, Zemm. Man. d@’Ornith. 2. 672, but not all the synonyms 
quoted. 
Le Heron blanc, Buff. Ois. 7. 365. 
Great White Heron, Br. Zool. 2. 175. t. 62.— Will. (Angl.) 279. t. 49.— 
Lath. Syn. 5. 91. 60.—Mont. Ornith. Dict. 1.—Jd. Sup. 
Ardea Egretta, Steph. Shaw’s Zool. 11. 543. The American White Heron, 
or true Ardea Egretta, and Ardea alba, ave here confounded together, 
and given as the same species. 
Tue claim of this Heron to the title of a British bird, 
even as a rare visitant, appears doubtful, and to rest upon 
vague testimony. WuLtoucnsy, whose description possesses 
all the accuracy and minuteness of a personal examination, 
does not state how or where the specimen was obtained, nor 
does he even speak of it as a bird that he had himself 
ever seen in England. Towards the conclusion of his ob- 
servations, however, he quotes, upon the authority of At- 
DRovVANDUwS, that “ a certain Englishman affirmed that he 
had seen White Herons, though but rarely, which neither, in 
bigness of body, nor shape, differed at all from the Common 
Heron ;” and then he farther adds, that a Mr Jounson, who 
