ARDlOIU.i:— THE HI0RON8. 126* 



Total lenfTt.h. about 30.fl()--^.25; expanse of wingrs. about 36.0(M0.00; winK, 8. 20-10. 50; tail. 

 3.00-4.80; culmon. 2. 08-3. ()5: depth of bill, .40-.55; tarsus, 3.15-4.50; middle loe, 2.20-3.20; bare 

 portion of tibiii. 1.70-2.75; weight, about 10-14 ounces. 



This beautiful eg^'et occurs durinp^ summer in various parts 

 of the State, but probably not abundantly except in the more 

 southern portions. 



Subgenus Dichromanassa Ridgway. 



IHehromanassa BiDGW. Bull. U. S. Geol. & Geog. Survey, Terr, iv. No. 1. Feb. 5, ISra. W6. 

 Type, Ardea rufa Bodd., =4. rufescens Gmel. 



SuBGBN. Chae. Medium-.sized Herons, of uniform white or plumbeous plumage, with 

 (adult) or without (young) cinnamon-colored head and neck; the form slender, the toes very 

 short, and the legs very long; the adults with the entire head and neck (except throat and 

 foreneck) covered with long, narrowly lanceolate, compactly webbed feathers, which on the 

 occiput form an ample crest, the feathers of which are very narrowly lanceolate an^ 

 decurved. 



Bill much longer than the middle toe (about two thirds the tarsus), the upper and lower 

 outlines almost precisely similar in contour, being nearly parallel along the middle portion, 

 where slightly approximated; the terminal portion of both culmen and gonys gently and 

 about equally curved. Mental apex extending to a little more than one third the distance 

 from the middle of the eye to the tip of the bill, or to about even with the anterior end of 

 the nostril; malar apex about even with that of the frontal feathers. Toes very short, the 

 middle one less than half the tarsus, the hallux less than half the middle toe; bare portion 

 of tibia more than half as long as tarsus; scutellation of tarsus, etc., as in Eerodias, Gar- 

 zetta, and al.ied subgenera. 



Plumes of the adult consisting of a more or less lengthened train of fastigiate, stiff- 

 shaftt^d 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 com- 

 pact webs, and on the occiput are developed into an ample decurved crest. 



There is only one species belon2:in^ to this subgenus, the di- 

 chromatic Ardea rufescens Gmel., the white phase of which was 

 formerly considered a distinct species, under the name of Peaie's 

 Egret {Ardea pealei Bonap.). 



Ardea rufescens Gmel. 



REDDISH EGEET. 

 Popnlar synonyms. Ru8»et Egret; Peale's Egret. 



a. Colored Phase, 



L'Aiorelte ronsse, de la Louisiane Buff. PI. Enl. 1777-1781, pi. 902 (adult). 



Ardea rufa Bodd. (nee Scop. 1709) Tabl. P. E. 1783, 54 (based on PI. EnL 903).— (\>tn5S. Boy. 



1872. 2(»; Check List. 1873, No. 455.— Keichknow, J. f. 0. 1S77. 269.— A. O. D. Chwk T.fst. 



1886, No. 19&-RIDQW. Man. N. Am. B. 1887. 131. 

 Demiegretta rufa Baikd. Birds N. Am. 1858,662; CaA. N. Am. B. 1859. No. 483. 



