830 



Birds of Celebes: Ardeidae. 



"Pokok kulo sela", Tondano, iid. 



"Baletagi bahejwa", Kabruang, Talaut, iid. 



For further synonymy and references cf. Salvadori h 3; Stejnegev j 1. 



Figures and descriptions. J. E. Gray & Hardwicke b 11; Gould d I, 2; Hume h 2; 



Legge 4; Salvadori ^ 5; Gates 5; Taczanowski k 1; Sharpe ml. 

 Description. Entire plumage white; no ornamental plumes on the nape and jugulum; "iris 



yellow; bare skin round the eye and of lores greenish" (Taczan.) k 1; tarsi and 



feet black. 

 Breeding plumage. Bill black; a long dorsal train extending about 100 mm beyond the tail 



consisting of lengthened feathers, decomposed into shafts with long thread-Uke rami, 



which spring from the upper back and scapulary region; bare part of tibia reddish brown. 

 Winter plumage. Bill yellow; tibia black, like the tarsus; the dorsal train wanting. 

 Young. Bill yellow, and the dorsal train wanting, as in the adult in winter; wing and bill 



apparently smaller. 

 Nestling. "Covered with white down, the legs brownish" (Legge 4). 



II 



Observation. All the five Celebesian specimens have yellow bills, and those marked adult are 

 still wearing the lengthened filamentous dorsal plumes of the breeding season, or some 

 of them. Comparing the bill with the wing the eastern Great White Heron seems 

 to have a longer bill than the typical alba. 



Moult. Specimen d killed in November is acquiinng fresh ornamental dorsal feathers. 



Eggs. Three or four in number, moderately smooth in texture, nearly regular ovals in shape, 

 of an unifoi-m pale greenish blue colour; size 51.8 — 55.9 X 35.3 — 38.9 mm (Legge 4). 



Nest. Of sticks, on the topmost branches of trees, the surface of the nest very flat with 

 scarcely any hollow') for the eggs, which rest upon a lining of roots and twigs 

 (Legge 4). 



Distribution in the East. Corea, Japan and Cliina west to India and Ceylon, the East Indies 

 to AustraUa and Tasmania. — In the Celebesian area: Minahassa (Meyer, Nat. 

 Coll.), Gorontalo Distr. (Forsten el, Rosenb. e 3, i 1), Talaut Is. — Kabruang 

 (Nat. Coll.); Sula Islands (Wallace m 1). For exact localities cf. Salvadori 

 h 3, h 6, adding Corea (Kalinowski k 1), Loochoo Is. (Stimpson^i, Hoist 1 1], 

 Talaut Is. (Nat. Coll. h 7), and excluding (?) New Zealand (Buller). 



The Large White Egret is perhaps not stationary in Celebes, where few 

 specimens have been recorded. One without any dorsal train was obtained in 



') A rounded bottom to the nest would probably result in the long-legged young, which squat upon 

 the tarsi, getting crooked shanks; presumably a hollow would be very inconvenient also to the legs of the 

 brooding female. The amusing fallacy that the sitting Heron, as also the Flamingo, sat astraddle on the nest 

 like a man on horseback, may here be mentioned. 



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