834 



Birds of Celebes: Ardeidae. 



Eggs. According to Hume these are decidedly jjaler sea- or bluish green than those of 

 H. alba, A. cinerea and purpurea; in shape often very jaerfect and rather broad ovals: 

 43—53 X 34—39 mm (27). 



Nest. On trees, in thickets, or among rushes, where it often breeds in dense colonies with 

 other Herons, making a nest of twigs (Hume 27). 



Distribution. Africa; the Indo-Chinese countries ; the East India Islands and Austraha. Japan 

 (Siebold c II, Blakiston & Pryer a 10); China (Swinhoe 2, Styan 28, etc.); 

 India (Jerdon, Hume, etc. f 2, 10,11); Ceylon (Legge, etc. 10); Andamans (Wardlaw 

 Ramsay 11, Hume & Davison 4); Burmah (Feilden 10, Gates 12); Sumatra 

 (H. 0. Forbes 14, Klaesi 20); Java (v. Hasselt a 2, Vorderman a 8); Noord- 

 wachter Is. (Vorderman 33); Sumba (Riedel 10"% Bilhton (Vorderman 30, 31); 

 Borneo — Sarawak (Doria & Becc. 5, 25); Philippines — Palawan (Whitehd. 23, 

 26), Bohol and Samar (Steere a 11), ]\Iindoro (Bourns & Worcester 32), Mindanao 

 (Everett 9); Celebes — Minahassa (Meyer 15, Nat. Coll.), Gorontalo District 

 (v. Rosenberg a 5, a 6), South Peninsula (Platen); Moluccas — Ternate (Bruijn 11); 

 Papuasia — Salawatti, Mafoor, Kei, Aru (fide Salvad. 11); Is. of Torres Str. 

 (McGillivray 11); Australia (Gould d II, f 3, Ramsay 22). 



In his list of birds obtained at Lake Limbotto in 1863 — 64 Rosenberg- 

 fa 6) mentions 9 examples of this Egret. One was obtained by Meyer at Lake 

 Tondano, and two were sent to the Dresden Museum recently from the same 

 spot by our native collector. A specimen from the Maros Waterfall from 

 Platen establishes the occurrence of the species in South Celebes. 



The Lesser White Egret has a wide range, being found both in East, South, 

 and West Africa, as well as in the countries of Asia and Australasia mentioned 

 above. It is not stationary in all parts of its range. David says that it visits 

 North China (Pekin) in the summer, though it is resident in Central and South 

 China, and Seebohm speaks of it as a summer visitor to Japan. According 

 to Whitehead it is a winter visitor to Palawan. It will be seen that the 

 specimens known from Celebes were obtained both in winter and summer. 



The best means of distinguishing this species from the allied White Egrets 

 of Celebes is to be found in its long toes, which considerably exceed the bill 

 in length, a condition seen also in Buhulcus coromandtis, but that species, when 

 pure white, may be recognised by its smaller size and short bill. Serrations of 

 the cutting edges of the bill near the tip are slightly more apparent than in 

 H. alba, though less so than in Bubulcus. In the breeding season H. intermedia 

 is more easy to distinguish, since its dorsal train is usually much longer than 

 in the other Egrets, it has no occipital crest (in which point it differs from 

 H. garzetta and eulophotes), and it is furnished with a quantity of long decomposed 

 plumes on the jugulum (not seen in H. alba, and which are lanceolate in 

 garzetta and eulophotes). At this season H. intermedia, like H. alba, gets a black, 

 or chiefly black, bill; in winter the bill is yellow. Dr. Sharpe makes a new 

 genus for it, Mesophoyx, but the student will find that it requires much care to 

 distinguish the white Egrets specifically, not to speak of genera; moreover, 



