HEEODIAS PLUMIEERUS. 



(Flumed Egret.) 



— ♦ 



The entire plumage is pure white. Trom the centre of the back and lower part of the neck depend a series of graceful plumes, long and 

 finely divided. Bill and orbits, bright yellow ; legs and feet, black, except the upper part of the thigh, which is yellow ; irides, straw yellow. 

 Length, 22 inches ; wing, 11 ; tail, 4i ; bill, 3f ; tarsus, 4. 



Of the three species of white Egret inhabiting Australia, this takes the intermediate position in size. It is an extremely beau- 

 tiful and delicate bird. The ornamental plumes are probably assumed only during the breeding season, as at certain times the bird does not 

 possess them. The range of this species is considerable from north to south, and it is also probably found in Java— a species described by 

 Wagler as Herodias Intermedia being apparently identical. Nothing is known of its nidification, which must assimilate to that of its 

 congeners. It is not unfrequently met with on the mud banks at the mouth of the Brisbane river; also among the small islands at the 

 southern part of Moreton Bay, and all such like places on our eastern coast. Of its presence in Western Australia we have as yet no notifi- 

 cation. Its food consists of small reptiles, fish, and Crustacea. 



