THE IBIS. 



TENTH SERIES. 



Vol. II. No. 4. OCTOBER 1914. 



XXXII. — On Herodias eulopliotes Sivinhoe. 

 By Tom Iredale. 



(Plate XX.) 



When preparing our Reference List of the Birds of New 

 Zealand {' Ibis/ 1913, pp. 201-63, 402-52), Mr. Mathews and 

 I had to investigate the Herons grouped in the Catalogue of 

 Birds in the British Museum under the name Demiegretta 

 sacra. 



On p. 405 we accepted Vieillot^s name of Ardea matook 

 (Nouv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat. vol. xiv. 1817, p. 416) for the New 

 Zealand bird, but no discussion Avas given. As a matter of 

 fact little was necessary, as the New Zealand race needed 

 only a superficial glance to grant it recognition as a valid 

 subspecies. 



Complications elsewhere ensued through the well-known 

 'dimorphism/' i. e., white and blue birds breeding together 

 in the same colony. In his 'Birds of Australia,' vol. iii. 

 pp. 450-455, just published, Mathews has fully discussed 

 the statements made concerning these birds and the varied 

 views held by different observers and writers, and has con- 

 cluded that two species had better be recognised, but he 

 admitted the extreme difiiculty of the group. I woukl agree 

 that conservatism is the best policy at present, and would 

 emphasize the strong argument that in many places. New 



SER. X. VOL. II, 2 o 



