Birds of Celebes: Ardeidae. 825 



Celebes: — Mantehage Id. (Nat. Coll.), Minahassa — Kema (P. & F. Sarasin a 4, 

 a 5); South coast of New Guinea (fide E. P. Ramsay c 4); Australia (Gould a I, 

 c 3, Ramsay c 4). 



This rare Egret was first discovered in Celebes in 1893, when our native 

 hunters got an example in breeding plumage in April on the island of Mantehage 

 off the coast of the Minahassa, and the Drs. P. & F. Sarasin a second in October 

 on the mainland at Kema, the latter being in winter or immature dress with- 

 out any decorative plumes and with a partially black bill. Unless we are much 

 mistaken, it is in this partial winter plumage that Gould has figured the species 

 in his "Birds of Australia" as H. immaculata. Here Gilbert says that he met 

 with it in great numbers in Van Diemen's Gulf, N. Australia. There seem to 

 be only two records of its occurrence in Tenasserim and only one from the 

 Andamans, as shown by Hume and (^ates. In North [Formosa Swinhoe found 

 it pretty common, "being frequently seen in parties of four and five and in 

 company with the H. garzettcT, with which they seemed to be nesting. "This and 

 H. garzetta feed almost entirely on fish , shrimps, and Squillae ; whereas the 

 Yellow-head (Buphus coromandus) and all the Ardetta group are to a great extent 

 omnivorous. I have kept alive most oi ih.e Ardeidae that occur in China". Swinhoe 

 makes some instructive remarks on the seasonal changes this species undergoes, 

 the bill being of a fine clear yellow in summer, becoming tinged with brown 

 in winter; the legs are in summer black, in winter greenish brown; the 

 crest is shed in August, when the other nuptial plumes are much worn. 

 Mr. De La Touche says that "at Swatow (in South China) it is very abundant 

 during the summer, but goes south for the winter". We suspect that it is only 

 a winter visitor to Celebes, but there is, of course, as yet no sufficient evidence 

 whereon to ground an opinion. 



In winter plumage, when much of its bill is blackish, this Egret is very 

 Uable to be mistaken for H. garzetta; it may best be distinguished by its short 

 legs (the tarsus being considerably less than 90 mm, while in H. garzetta it is 

 about 100 mm); also its bill is shorter and probably never black on the basal 

 half of the upper, as well as the under, mandible, and the first primary is as 

 long or longer than the second and third, whereas in garzetta it is slightly shorter 

 (2 — 5 mm). In breeding dress it is easily recognisable by its crest of many 

 lanceolate feathers and yellow bill. Demiegretta sacra has similar short, though 

 much thicker, legs, toes and claws; in the albino state this bird may further 

 be distinguished from H. eulophotes by its longer wing (with the first primary about 

 5 mm shorter than the third) and by its stout bill. 



There is little reason to doubt that Swinhoe's H. eulophotes and Gould's 

 H. immaculata are one and the same species, as Blyth (c 2) long ago stated 

 them to be. What the Herodias immaculata of Salvadori (Orn. Pap. 1882, III, 

 356) from New Guinea is we do not know; it is a large bird with the tarsus 

 110 mm long, or 25—35 mm longer than in the subject of the present article, 



Meyer & Wiglesworth, VArAs of Celebes (Dec. Otli, 1897). 104 



