RIDGWAY ON AMERICAN HERODIONES. 247 



tibia more than half as long as tarsus; scutellation of tarsus, etc., as 

 in Herodias, Garzetta, and allied genera. 



Plumes of the adult consisting of a more or less lengthened train of 

 fastigiate, stifif-shafted feathers, with long, loose, and straight plumules, 

 and extending beyond the tail ; in addition to this train, the scapulars 

 and the feathers of the whole head and neck, except the throat and 

 foreneck, are long and narrow, distinctly lanceolate, and acuminate, 

 with compact webs, and on the occiput are developed into an ample 

 decurved crest. 



Affinities. — This genus is perhaps most nearly allied to Demiegretta, 

 Bly th,* with which it agrees quite closely in the form of the bill, and also, 

 to a considerable extent, in coloration. Demiegretta, however, is at once 

 distinguished by its extremely short tarsus (much shorter than the bill, 

 instead of nearly a third longer!), which is altogether more abbreviated 

 than in any American genus of this group, in proportion to the other 

 dimensions. The plumes also are entirely different, there being none on 

 the neck, with the exception of the jugulum, while those of the back are 

 slenderly lanceolate, with compact webs, almost exactly as in Florida 

 ewrulea. The very great difference in form between Demiegretta and the 

 present genus may be more clearly shown by the statement that while the 

 bill and wing, as well as the general bulk, are nearly the same in the two, 

 Demiegretta has the tarsus about 2.75 instead of 5.80 inches long, the 

 middle toe 2.10 instead of 2.80, and the bare portion of the tibia 1.20 

 instead of 3.50! It will thus be seen that the proportions are entirely 

 difftirent in the two forms. The bill of Demiegretta is also very much 

 more obtuse than that of Dichromanassa. 



Demiegretta novce-hollandice (Lath.) is of more slender build than the 

 type-species, and is scarcely strictly congeneric ; but it is otherwise sim- 

 ilar, especially in the character of the plumage. The bill is more slen 

 der, approaching in form that of Hydranassa, but still different ; the 

 legs are also more elongated, but are decidedly less so than in the genus 

 under consideration. 



Genus Syrigma, Eidgway. 



<^ Ardea, AuCT. {Nee Linnseui,) 



< Buphus, BoNAP. Consp. ii. 1855, 127. '(^ec Boie, 1826.) 



<^Ardeola, Gray, Handlist, iii. 1871, 30. (^ec Boie, 1822.) — Boucakd, Catal. Avium, 



1876, 51. 

 = Syrigma, Ridgway, MS. (Type Ardea sibilatrix Temm.) 



Gen. en. — Medium-sized or rather small Herons, with a general 

 resemblance to the Night Herons {Nyetiardea, Nyctherodius, and Pilhe- 

 rodius)^ but of more variegated colors and very different proportions. 



Bill rather small (a little longer than the head and slightly exceeding 



*Type, Ardea jtigularis, Bi,ytu, Notes on tlie Fauna, of the Nicobar Islands, Journ. 

 Asiatic Soc. Bengal, xv. 1846, 376, = Herodias concolor, Bonap. Consp. ii. 1855, 121, = 

 Ardea sacra, Gmel. This Heron also is dichromatic, having a pure- white phase as in 

 Dichromanassa rufa, the normal plumage being uniform dark plumbeous or slttte. 



