544 
GREAT EGRET HERON. 
Great White Heron. Peri7i. Brit. Zool. 2. 175. pi- 62 . — Pernio 
Arct. Zool. 2. 234. — Will. [Ang.) 2/Q. pi. 49- — Lath. Gen. 
Syn. 5 . 91 . 60 . — Mont. Orn. Diet. 1. — Mont. Orn. Diet. Sup. 
— Letv. Brit. Birds. A. pi. 150. 
Great Egret. Penn. Aret. Zool. 2. 346. — Lath. Gen, Syn. 5. SP- 
SS. — Wills. Amer. Orn. 7 . JO 6 . pi. \\\. J'. 4. ? 
This fine species has the whole of the plumage 
of a pure white, with a slight hanging crest on the 
head : many of the feathers on the back are 
elongated, and measure nearly a foot and a half in 
length ; their shafts are strong and straight, and 
their webs are long, very slender, and wedged, as 
are also the feathers of the crest : the beak is 
bright yellow : the naked space about the eyes is 
green : the irides are bright yellow : the legs are 
dusky, or dusky green : the length of this bird is 
about three feet six inches. The young, before the 
age of three years, and the old, during the period of 
moulting, are of a pure white ; they do not possess 
the crest or the long dorsal feathers : the former 
have the upper mandible of the beak black at its 
point and along the ridge, and during the first 
year it is entirely dusky yellow, with the plumage 
dirty white : the feet are greenish : the irides 
bright yellow. 
This bird is found in various parts of the south 
of Europe, and in the young state has been recorded 
as a British bird,' but upon questionable authority. 
It is very numerous in Asia and in some parts 
of Africa, and is likewise stated to be abundant in 
America ; but upon the latter point I am not 
certain, as the bird found in that part of the world 
